f^ATUI^ALIST'S 

IN   TH? 

Eastei\n  Mchip 


fiEj^RY   O.  f^OR 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

RIVERSIDE 


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IB^  \X1X^I^ 


MKlGHTOir  JiRO?. 


W«^^  FORBES   HONEY- HIATER. 

1  MY'ZOMELAANKABFMvG,    Scl.) 


A  NATURALIST'S  WANDERINGS 


IN  THE 


EASTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 


A  MRRATIVE  OF  TRAVEL  AND  EXPLORATION 


From  1878  to  1883 


BY 

HENRY   O.  FORBES,  F.R.G.S. 

MEMBER  OF  THE  SCOTTISH  GEOGRAPHICAL  SOCIETY;  FELLOW  OP  THE  ZOOLOGICAL  SOCIETY  OF   LONDON 

MEMBER  OP  THE  ANTHROPOLOGICAL  INSTITUTE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  AND  IRELAND 

MEMBER  OP  THE  BRITISH  ORNITHOLOGIST'S  UNION 


WITH   NUMEROUS  ILLUSTRATIONS  FROM   THE  AUTHOR'S  SKETCHES 
AND  DESCRIPTIONS  BY  MR.  JOHN  B.  GIBBS 


NEW    YORK 
HARPER    &    BROTHERS,    FRANKLIN    SQUARE 

1S85 


TO 

THE    MEMOEY 

OF 
MY  FRIEND  AND  CLASS-FELLOW  AT  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  EDINBURGH, 

2l2aiUiam  Elexantier  jFoxht^, 

B.A.,  F.L.S.,  F.G.S.,  &c., 
FELLOW  OF  ST.  JOHX'S  COLLEGE,  CAMBRIDGE; 
PROSECTOR  TO  THE  ZOOLOGICAL  SOCIETY  OF  LONDON; 

WHO  DIED  IX  AFRICA  IN  JANUARY,  1883, 

WHILE   LEADING   A   SCIENTIFIC   EXPEDITION  ALONG   THE  RIVER   NIGER; 

AND  WHO,  ALREADY  EMINENT  FOR  ENDURING  WORK 
ACCOMPLISHED  IN  ZOOLOGICAL  SCIENCE, 

WAS  IN  FUTURE  PROMISE  PRE-EMINENT  OVER  ALL  OF  HIS  TIME, 


PEEFACE. 


Mr.  a.  E.  Wallace's  '  Malay  Archipelago '  is  so  accurate  and 
exhaustive  an  account  of  the  Eastern  Isles,  that  there  have 
been  left  but  few  gleanings  for  those  who  have  followed  him 
to  gather.  Most  of  the  islands  visited  by  me  were  also  visited 
by  him ;  but  my  route  has  in  each  island  been  altogether 
diiferent  from  his.  In  as  far  as  it  refers  to  islands  visited  by 
both  of  us,  I  should  desire  this  volume,  which  is  a  mere 
transcript  of  what  I  have  thought  the  more  interesting  of 
the  field  notes  made  during  my  wanderings,  to  be  considered 
in  the  light  of  an  addendum  to — unfortunately  without  any 
of  the  literary  elegance  and  finish  of — that  model  book  of 
travel. 

No  detailed  account  of  the  Timor-laut  Islands  has  appeared 
before  the  present ;  and  very  little  has  been  published  on  the 
inhabitants  of  the  interior  of  Timor.*  In  the  chapters  devoted 
to  these  lands  I  have  contributed  some  ethnological  notes  which 
I  trust  may  be  found  new  and  of  interest. 

Before  I  allow  this  volume  to  leave  my  hands,  I  have  the 
pleasant  task  of  acknowledging  my  indebtedness  to  many 
friends.  Besides  those  whose  kindness  I  have  referred  to  in 
the  body  of  this  work,  I  have  in  the  first  instance  to  beg  their 
Excellencies  Van  Lansberge  and  'Sjacob,  the  two  Governors- 
General  of  Netherlands  India  during  my  stay  in  the  Archi- 
pelago, to  accept  my  grateful  acknowledgments  for  their  many 

*  '  As  PossessOes  Portugezas  na  Oceania,  por  Affouso  do  Castro,  membro  da 
Sociedadc  de  Sciencias  e  Artes  dc  Batavia ;  Deputado  da  na9ao,  &c.,  ex- 
Governador  de  Timor:  Lisboa,  1867,'  contaiua  an  interesting  account  of  some 
of  the  customs  of  the  people  of  E.  Timor. 


vi  PREFACE. 

generous  concessions  and  the  aid  granted  to  me  as  a  scientific 
traveller.  My  thanks  are  due  also  to  all  the  civil  officials — 
too  numerous  to  name  here — whose  districts  I  resided  in  or 
passed  through.  They  upheld  the  well-deserved  fame  that  the 
Dutch-Indian  Ambtenars  have  earned  for  their  hospitality. 
The  mention  of  each  of  their  districts  is  indelibly  associated 
in  my  remembrance  with  their  names  and  their  numerous  acts 
of  kindness.  I  may  be  permitted  to  record  the  names  of  those 
to  whom  I  am  under  special  obligation:  Governor  Laging 
Tobias,  then  Eesident  of  Palembang ;  Assistant-Resident 
Schuylinburch,  of  Muara-dua ;  Controllers  De  Heer  and  Bey- 
rinck,  of  the  Lampong  Residency ;  and  Controllers  Van  der 
Volk,  Hisgen,  and  Kamp,  of  the  Palembang  Eesidency. 

To  Dr.  Treub  and  Dr.  Burck,  of  the  Botanical  Gardens  in 
Buitenzorg,  I  am  peculiarly  indebted  for  more  than  ordinary 
acts  of  courtesy  and  friendship ;  as  well  as  to  Dr.  Bernelot 
Moens,  Director  of  the  Cinchona  Plantations.  To  His  I^x- 
cellency  Senhor  Bento  da  Franca  Pinto  d'  Oliveira,  the 
Governor  of  Portuguese  Timor,  to  his  whole  family,  and  to  his 
son  Seuhor  Bento  da  Fraufa  Salema,  Government  Secretary, 
my  wife  and  myself  lie  under  the  deepest  indebtedness,  not 
alone  for  the  aid  and  protection  I  was  so  generously  provided 
with  to  enable  me  to  visit  the  interior  of  that  interesting  island, 
but  for  the  most  affectionate  kindness  manifested  to  us  both 
throughout  our  stay  in  Timor. 

To  Mr.  H.  D.  Jamieson,  j\Ir.  J.  Craig  and  ^Ir.  C.  Haliburton, 
who  did  for  us  many  acts  of  personal  kindness  and  friendship 
while  in  Java,  I  tender  my  sincerest  tlianks. 

I  have  to  express  my  very  hearty  obligations  to  the  British 
Association's  Committee  for  the  exploration  of  Timor-laut, 
especially  to  Dr.  P.  Tj.  Sclater;  to  Mr.  Carruthers  and  the 
Botanists  of  the  British  Museum  for  their  aid  in  arranging 
Timor  Herbarium,  and  for  their  describing  it  in  time  to 
appear  as  one  of  the  appendices  of  this  volume ;  to  Messrs. 
S.  0.  liidley  and  J.  Quelch,  of  the  Zoological   Department ; 


PREFACE. 


and  to  Mr.  E.  Bowdler  Sharpe  for  his  kind  revision  of  the  proof 
sheets  of  the  ornithological  lists,  as  well  as  for  his  willing  aid 
in  the  determination  of  the  birds  I  obtained. 

It  was  3Ir.  H.  W.  Bates,  the  Author  of  the '  Naturalist  on 
the  Amazons,'  who  in  my  boyhood  first  inspired  me  with  a  desire 
to  visit  the  tropics ;  and  he,  in  later  years,  has  ever  with  ready 
cheerfulness  aided  my  inexperience  by  sound  and  friendly 
advice. 

Lastly  but  chiefly,  I  must  acknowledge  a  heavy  debt  of 
gratitude  to  my  friend  Alexander  Comyns,  LL.B.,  of  the 
Middle  Temple,  for  more  acts  of  kindness,  as  my  constant 
correspondent  and  counsellor  during  my  absence,  than  can  be 
ever  sufficiently  acknowledged  or  repaid. 

I  cannot  close  without  adding  one  word  of  recognition  of 
the  companion  of  my  travels,  whose  constant  encouragement 
and  valued  aid  lighten  all  my  labours. 


Henry  0.  Fokbes. 


RuBisLAW  Dex,  Abeedeen, 
January  30,  1885. 


CONTENTS. 


PAET   I. 
IN  THE  COCOS-KEELING  ISLANDS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

IN   BATAVIA   AND   BUITENZORG. 

FAQR 

Arrival  in  Batavia — First  impressions — Buitenzorg  and  its  Botanical 

Gardens..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  .,  ..         3 

CHAPTER  11. 

SOJOURN   IX   THE   COCOS-KEELING   ISLANDS. 

Start  for  the  Cocos-Keeling  Islands — In  the  Straits  of  Sunda — An  unex- 
pected pilot — Arrival — History  of  the  colony  there — Terrible  cyclones 
— Home  life  of  the  colonists  now — The  reef  and  its  builders — Fishes 
in  the  lagoon — Crabs  and  their  operations — Plant  life — Insect  life — 
Mammals — Birds  ..  ..  ..  •..  ..  ..  ..        11 

CHAPTER  III. 

SOJOURN  IN  THE   COCOS-KEELING  ISLANDS   (cotltinued). 

Coral  reef  formation — Observations  on  the  elevation  or  subsidence  of  the 

Keeling  Atoll 35 

Appendix  TO  Part  I.         .,         ..  ..  ..         ..         ..         ..       42 


PART  II. 
IN  JAVA. 


CHAPTER  I. 

SOJOURN   AT  GENTENG   IN   BANTAM. 


On  the  road— The  Sundanese  language— Every  man  a  naturalist — Bird- 
life  at  Genteng — Weaver-birds'  nests — A  native  rural  bazaar — Forest 
devastation — Geological  structure  of  the  district — A  wonderful  case 
of  mimicry  in  a  spider.  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ••       51 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  II. 

SOJOURN   AT  KOSALA   IX   BAXTAM, 

PAGE 

Leave  Genteng — Native  blacksmiths  at  Sadjira — Hot  springs  of  Tjipanas 
Birds  and  plants  at  Tjipanas — Invitation  to  Kosala — The  Kosala 
estate — 'i"he  curious  disease  Lata — 'J'he  "Wau-wau — Birds — Bees — 
White  ants — Great  trees — Lon<:  drought  and  its  consequences — The 
Hemileia  vastatrix,  a  fungoid  blight  and  the  buffalo  diseass — Flora 
and  fauna  of  Kosala  Mountains — Singular  living  ants'  nests  and  their 
development — Orchids  at  Kosala  and  some  curious  devices  for  secur- 
ing self-fertilisation — Ancient  remains  in  the  forest — The  Karangs 
and  their  curious  rites — The  Badui — Religion  and  superstitions  of  the 
people  of  Bantam — Leave  Kusala        ..  ..  ..  ..  ..       66 

CHAPTER  II L 

SOJOURN  AT  PEXGELEXGAX,   IN   THE  PREANGER  REGENCIES. 

Leave  Buitenzorg  for  the  Pi-eanger  I'egencies — Journey  to  Bandong  ia  a 
post-cart — Bandong — Thence  to  Pengelengan — Visit  to  the  famous 
Cinchona  Gardens  of  the  Government — Plant-life  in  the  surrounding 
mountains — The  Upas-tree — Crater  flora — Land  slips  and  the 
power  of  rain — Interesting  birds — The  Badger-headed  Mj'daus — The 
Banteng,  or  wild  cattle — Wild  dogs — Leave  Pengelengan  for  Batavia     105 

Appendix  TO  Part  II.       .,         ,.         ,.         ..         ..         ..         ..     118 


PAET  III. 
IN  SUMATRA. 

CHAPTER  I. 

SOJOURN   IN   THE   LAMPONGS. 

Leave  Batavia  for  Telok-betong — Lampong  Bay — Telok-betong — Leave 
for  Gedong- tetahan — Forest  scenery  by  the  way — Escape  from  a 
tiger — Flowers  in  the  forest — Gedonsc-tetahan — Birds  and  insects 
there — Move  to  Kotta-djawa — The  village — Ruthless  destruction  of 
the  forest — Trees — Entomological  treasures — Move  to  Gunung  Trang 
— The  pepper  trade — Birds  there — Interesting  butterflies     ..  .,      125 

CHAPTER  IL 

SOJOURN  IN  THE  LAMPONGS  (continued). 

Move  towards  the  Tengamus  Mountain — Butterflies  found  on  the  journey 
thither — Tiohmomon — The  Balai,  a  characteristic  institution — De- 
scent of  the  Lamponge's — Their  language — Divisions  of  the  province 


CONTENTS. 


— Tiiles  and  dignities— Ornaments — festivities  and  amusemeuts — 
Marriage  customs — Move  to  Penanggungan — -Petroleum  and  paraffin 
matches  —  Penanggungan  —  Great  trees — Interesting  plants  and 
animals — The  Siamang — Move  to  Terratas — Ascent  of  tlie  Ten- 
gamus  Mountain — Its  flora  and  fauna — Return  to  Penanggungan  and 
toBatavia  139 


CHAPTER  III. 

SOJOURN   IN   THE   PALEMBANG  RESIDENCY. 

From  Batavia  to  Anjer — Return  to  Telok-Betong — Proceed  to  Beneawang 
— Leave  this  for  the  Blalau  region — Camp  at  Sanghar— Camp  in  the 
forest — Phosphorescent  display — Camp  again  in  forest — Reach  Burai- 
padang — Pass  on  to  Batu-brah — Desciiption  of  the  village — Move  on 
to  Kenali — Description  of  tlie  village — Proceed  to  Hoodjoong — De- 
scription of  the  village — Its  tobacco  industry — Its  rice-fields — Plant- 
ing and  reaping — Superstitions — Goitre — Fauna  and  flora  of  the 
Besagi  volcano— Birds  and  insects  of  the  neighbourhood       ..  .,      IGl 

CHAPTER  IV. 

SOJOURN   IN   THE   PALEMBANG  RESIDENCY   (continued). 

Leave  Hoodjong — Denudation — Great  arums — Sukau — Chiefs  of  the 
Ranau  region — Tandjon-djati  on  the  Ranau  Lake— The  high  tempera- 
ture of  the  water — Birds,  fishes,  interesting  insects — Banding  Agong 
— To  Muara  Dua  —  Through  Kisam  —  Geological  notes — Kisam 
villages — Coat  of  arms — Writing,  dress,  religion  of  Kisam  people    ..      174 

CHAPTER  V. 

SOJOURN  IN   THE   PALEMBANG   RESIDENCY  (continued). 

From  Ganung  Megang — Luntiir — A  surprise — River  Ogan — Curious 
hills — Ornamental  carving — A  village  lair — A  cock-figlit — Into  the 
Inirn  Valley — Muara  Inim — Lahat — Passumah  Lands — Ceremonial 
formulas — 'i"he  people — Marriage  ceremonies — Illegitimate  births — 
Religion — Deatli  superstitions  and  rites — Sculptured  stones — Inter- 
esting visit  from  Bencoolen  men  183 

CHAPTER  VI. 

SOJOURN  IN   THE   PALEMBANG   RESIDENCY   (continued). 

Passumah  Lands  (contd.) — The  Volcano  of  the  Dempo — Its  flora  and 
fauna — The  crater — Spectre  of  the  Brocken — The  view  from  the 
summit — Leave  for  the  Kaba  Volcano — Gujiung  ^leraksa — River 
journey  on  a  raft — Lami>ar — Find  again  the  spider  Urnithoscatoidts 
decipiens — Batupanijeii — A  marriage  scene — Games  of  the  boys — 
Houses — Tebbing-Tinggi  —Tandjou'^-ning— Great  trees — My  party 
attacked  by  a  tiger — Its  wiliness — Its  capture — Graveyard  ..  ..      20ti 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

SOJOURN  IN  THE   PALEMBAKG   KESIDEXCY  {continued). 

PAGB 

Leave  Tandjong-Nii)g — Padang  Ulak-Tandjong — Kejiala  Tjurup — Hot 
springs  of  the  Kaba — Earthquake — Botanical  features— Curious 
plants — Fertilisation  of  Melastoraa — A  jjilgrimage — The  crater  of 
the  Kaba — The  nomadic  Kubus — Kupit  river  scenery — Gold- 
fiatherers — Muara-rupit — The  Durian — Surulangua — Thieves  and 
thieves'  calendars— Mala}'  dignity — Leave  for  Muara  Mengkulem  ..     225 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

SOJOURN   IX   THE   PAI,EMBANG   RESIDENCY   (continued). 

Muara  Mengkulem — Refused  entrance  into  the  Djambi  Sultanate — Napal 
Litjin — Peak  of  Karang-nata — Geological  formation — Botanical 
features — Birds — Hemipteron  milked  by  ants — Rakit  life — ^Bigin- 
telok — Water  roads — An  escape  from  drowning — Pau — ^Kiver  squall 
— Approach  to  Palembang — -River  life  and  its  massive  joy — The 
town  of  Palembang — Return  to  Batavia         ..  ..  ..  ..      250 

Appendix  TO  Part  III.     ..  ..  ..         ..         ..  ..  ..     261 


PAET  IV. 
IN  THE  MOLUCCAS  AND  IN  TIMOB-LAUT. 


CHAPTER  I. 


FROM   JAVA    TO   AMBOIKA. 


Sojourn  in  Buitenzorg,  Java — Leave  for  Amboina  accompanied  by  my 
■wife — Friends  on  board — Call  at  Samarang  and  Sourabaya  in  Java — 
Macassar  in  Celebes — Bima  in  Sumbawa — Larautuka  in  Fiores — 
Cupang  and  Dilly  in  Timor — Banda,  the  island  of  nutmeg  gardens ..      283 


CHAFTER  IL 

AMBOINA. 

Amboina — Reception  by  Mr.  Resident  Riedel — Delay — Visit  interior  of 
Amboina — Paso — Move  to  Wai — The  people  there — The  flora  and 
fauna — Return  to  Amboina      ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..      288 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  HI. 

FROM   AMBOINA   TO   TIMOR-LAUT. 

PAGE 

Leave  for  Timor-laut — Saparua — Curious  village  and  atoll  of  Gessir — 
New  Guinea — Aru — Ke — Timor-laut — First  impressions — New  birds 
and  butterflies — State  of  siege — Negotiate  for  a  house — Language — 
Our  barter  goods  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..      298 

CHAPTER  IV. 

SOJOURN   IN   TIMOR-LAUT. 

The  natives — Hair  and  coitTures — Vanity — -Stature  and  living  characte- 
ristics —  Cranial  characters  —  Clothing — Tjikalele  dance  —  Arms  — 
Marriage  —  Artistic  skill — Individual  and  moral  character — Treat- 
ment of  their  children — Games — Fine  figures — Graves — Good  butter- 
fly resorts  ..  ..  ..  ,.  ..  ..  ..  ..     307 

CHAPTER  V. 

SOJOURN  IN  TIMOR-LAUT  (continued). 

Religion  and  sujjerstitions — Visit  to  Waitidal — Barter  for  a  skull — Send 
my  hunters  to  the  northern  islands  of  the  grou^) — -Climate  of  Timor- 
laut — A  mauvais  quart  d'heure — Designation  of  the  group — Geo- 
graphical and  geological  features         ..  ..  ,.  ,.  ..      325 

CHAPTER  VL 

SOJOURN  IN  TIMOR-LAUT  (continued). 

Natural  History — Flora — Disaster  to  Herbarium — Faima — Mimicking 
birds — Insects — Fever  and  failure  of  supplies — Anxious  waiting  for 
steamer — Arrival  of  SS.  Amboina — Leave  Timor-laut  for  Amboiua       334 

Appendix  TO  Part  IV.     ..         ,.  ..         ..  ..         ..         ,.     340 


PART  V. 
IN  THE  ISLAND  OF  BUBU. 


CHAPTER  I. 


from   KAJELI   to   THE    LAKE. 


From  Amboina  to  Burn — Kajeli — Trade  of  Knjeli — Birds — River  Apu — 
Wai  Bliii  village — Village  of  Wai  Gelan — The  Matakau — Forced 
encampments — Wai  Klaba — A  Pomalied  mountain — Wasilale — 
Hospitable  reception — Houses — Musical  i^erformance — Pomali  signs 
— Arrive  at  Laha  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ■»%     391 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  II. 

AT   LAKE   WOKOLO. 

PAGE 

The  Lake — The  people  therp— Garments— -Cultivation— Arms  and 
accoutrements — Marriage — Death  rites — Superstitions  about  the  lake 
— Explanation  of  its  position  and  of  the  absence  of  fish  in  it— New 
birris— Great  disappointment— Eetuni  to  Kajeli— Thence  to  Amboina 
— Compelled  to  leave  the  Moluccas — A  kind  farewell — Leave  for 
Timor 401 

Appendix  to  Part  V.       ..  ..  ..  ••  ••  ••  ••     409 


PAET  YI. 
IN    TIMOR. 

CHAPTER  I. 

SOJOURN  AT   FATUNABA, 


Arrival  at  Dill}* — Dreadf id  effects  of  fever — Search  for  a  site  for  a  house 
— The  town  of  Dilly  an  ethnographical  studio — Fatunaba — Our 
residence — The  enchanting  view  thence — Interesting  birds  and  plants 
— Difficulty  with  servants — Preparations  for  departure  into  the  in- 
terior— Dialects  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..     41! 


CHAPTER  II. 

ON   THE   EGAD   TO   BlBigUgU, 

Start  for  the  interior — Vegetation  on  the  way — Roads — Camp  on  Erlura 
— Mt.  Tehula — Kelehoko  and  its  flora — Pass  a  night  under  the  eaves 
of  a  native  dwelling — Huts  in  trees — Bed  of  the  River  Komai — Pass 
a  night  on  Ligidoik  mountain — Character  of  country — Valley  of  the 
Waimatang  Kaimauk — Singular  scene — Unburied  relatives — Burial 
rites — Grave-sticks — Rites  attending  a  king's  death — Swangies — 
Lose  our  way — Flora  on  Turskain  mountain — Rajah  of  Turskain's — 
Botanical  excursions — The  rites  of  the  sacred  Lull  and  the  choosing 
of  warriors — The  Kajah  ..  ,.  ..  ..  ..  ,.      427 


CHAPTER  IIL 

IN   THE   KINGDOM   OF   BIBI^UgU. 

Leave  for  Bibi9U9U— Bridles — A  trio  of  Braves — War  and  its  attendant 
ceremonies — Rahomali — Luli  ground — Bibicucu — Harvest  fields — 
Cultivation — Take  the  law  into  my  own  hands — Connubial  rela- 
tions— Waterfall — Birds — Herbarium — Discjuieting  news — Mount 
Kabftlak: — Move  forward  to  Saluki — Native  market — Description  of 


CONTENTS. 


XV 


PAGE 


natives  seen  there — Ornaments — Dyes — An  enraged  Timorese  — 
Red-haired  race — Timorese  a  mixed  race — Up  the  Makulala 
River — Gold — Ceremonies  of  gold-gathering — Arrive  at  the  Rajah 
ofSeluki's  449 


CHAPTER  lY. 

SOJOURN   IK   KAILAKUK   AND   SAIIORO. 

I  proceed  to  Fatviboi — River  Motaai — Crystalline  rocks — A  weird  village 
— Rare  additions  to  my  herbarium — Butterflies — Move  on  to  the 
Rajah  of  Samoro's — Vegetation  by  the  way — Geological  notes — 
Penalties  of  theft — Samoro — Visit  Sobale  Peak — Botanising  under 
difficulties — Large  Herbarium — Return  to  Samoro  and  leave  for 
Manuleo  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..     468 

CHAPTER  V. 

RETURN  TO   EUROPE, 

Bad  news  from  Dilly — Start  thither — Camp  in  the  open — Bees — Laclo 
river — Rajah's  ot'Laicor — The  Queen  of  Laclo — A  hot  ride — Geologi- 
cal  note — Matu — Metinaru — Salt    marshes— A   long    night-ride — 

Return  to  Diliy  Palace — Extract  from  A 's  journal — Return  to 

Fatunaba — Fevers — Decide  to  return  to  Europe — Surprised  by  the 
arrival  of  steamer — Regretful  departure  from  Fatunaba — Revisit 
Banda  and  Amboina  —  Menado  —  A  lucky  accident  —  Batavia  — 
Krakatoa — Home  ..  ..  ..  ..  ,.  ,.  ,,     478 

Appendix  TO  Part  VL     ..  ..         ..         ..  ..         ..         .,     489 

Index  ..  ..         ..  ..         .,  ..         ..         ..         ..     525 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Mrs.  Forbes'  Honey-eater  (with  permission,  from  Gould's  '  Birds 


OF  New  Guinea')  ...... 

Ficus  religiosa,   in  the  Botanical  Gardens,  Buitenzorg 
Two  forms  of  the  Xest  of  the  Weaver-Bird 
Abandoned  XesttFoundation       .... 

A  Bird's-excreta-mimicking  Spider 

Nest  of  the  Zethus  Cyanopterus 

Transverse  section  of  the  stem  of  Myrmecodia  tuberosa 

Young  plant  of  Myrmecodia  tuberosa 

Young  Myrmecodia  and  section  of  a  somewhat  older  one 

Phajus  Blumei,  Figs.  1  to  8 

Spathoglottis  plicata,  Figs.  9  to  15     . 

Arundina  speciosa.  Figs.  10  to  22 

Eria  sp.,  near  to  E.  javensis,  Figs.  23,  21 

Chrysoglossum  sp..  Figs.  25  to  26a 

Goodyera  procera,  Figs.  27,  28    . 

Egg-shaped  Stone  from  the  Karang's  Grove 

Earthenware  Pots  from        „  „ 

Our  Night-crossing  of  the  Piver  Tjitarum 

Head  of  Kerivoula  javana         .... 

Village  of  Kotta-djawa    ..... 

Lampong  Characters  :  an  Ili,ustrated  Page  from  a  Nati 

EOMANCE        ....... 

Head  of  Buceros  and  section       .... 

Village  of  Kenali     ...... 

View  near  the  Village  of  IIoodjoong,  looking  towj 

P.ESAGI  ....... 

Coat  of  Arms  in  the  Village  of  Padjar-P-ulan    . 
Tata  Puisur-talam     .         .         .         .         .     '     . 

'J'ata  Simbar       ....... 

Looking  down  the  Ogan  Valley  from  the  Piang  Peak 
Tata  ]{amo-ramo         ...... 

Semindo   Carving— Otar    Gamoolung — on    a  House 

DONAN  ....... 

2 


facing 


Frontispiece 

facing       10 

57 

58 

64 

73 

79 

.       80 

.       81 

8G,  87,  88 

89,  90 

91,  92,  93 

.       93 

94,95 

.       96 

.       98 

99,  100 

facing     106 

.     118 

131 


facing 

VE-WRITTEN 

facing 
facing 

UDS    iloUNT 

facing 


facing 
Pengan- 


142 
155 
168 

170 
180 
180 
186 
180 
187 

187 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Passumah   Bracelets    of   Silver,    showisg    the    Orxamextation 

DERIVED  from  THE  YOUNG  SHOOTS  OF  THE  BaMBOO 

Monolith  at  Tangerwangi,  Passumah  Lands        .... 

„         disinterred  by  the  Author  at  Tangerwangi 
Side-view  of  the  Head  of  one  of  the  Figures      .... 

New  Species  of  Erugmansia,  of  the  Family  of  the  Pafflesiace^ 

facing 
House  in  the  Village  of  Batu-pantjeh        ...  ,, 

My  Collector  killed  dy  a  'J'iger  ....  „ 

Tiger-trap  .........  „ 

My  Hut  at  the  Hot  Springs,  foot  of  the  Kaba  Volcano  „ 

Flower  (diagrammatic)  of  Melastoma  (with  the  kind  permission 
of  the  Proprietors  of  Nature)       ...... 

Kubu  man  and  woman,  sketched  in  the  Village  of  Kotta  Hadja 

„  „  „  „  surulangun 

Flower  of  Curcuma  zerumbet,  showing  its  mode  of  fertilisation 
Vaccinium  Forbesii     .... 

SoLOR  Ornamentation 
Kutmeg-gatherer's  Collecting-rod 
Coiffures  of  the  Natives  of  Timor-laut 
Instrument  for  crimping  the  Hair 
Ornamented  Belt-buckle   . 
Earring     ...... 

Carved  Comb,  ornamented  with  inlaid  Bone 
Ornamented  Chalk-holder 
House  in  Timor-laut 

„  „         WITH  Poof  removed  to 

Suspensory  Contrivance  made  of  Palm-leaf 
Grave  of  a  Native  Chief  . 
Carved  Suspensory  Contrivances 
duadilah  ...... 

Machik's  Ground-thrush  (Gcocid.ui  machiki,  Forbes)      .  facing 

NoRM^   frontalis   et  lateralis   of  the   Male  Brachycephalic 

Skull,  No.  4  (with  the  permission  of  the  Council  of  the 

Anthropological  Institute)  ...... 

NoRM^  frontalis  et  lateralis  of  the  Female  Polichoc  ephalic 
Skull,  No.  1  (with  the  permission  of  the  Council  of  the 
Anthropological  Institute)  ...... 

Upper  Surface  of  Bill  of  Heteranax  mundus  (with  the  permission 
of  the  Council  of  th3  Zoological  Society)    .... 

Upper  Surface  of  Bill  of  Piezorhynchus  castus  (with  the  per- 
mission of  the  Council  of  the  Zoological  Society) 
dielis  laratensis  (with  the  permission  of  the  council  of  the 
Zoological  Society)     ........ 

Matakau  ........... 

The  Hut-Cluster,  Wasilale,  on  the  slope  of  the  GununOt  Dupa 


SHOW  THE  Interior 


195 
2C0 
201 
202 

206 
218 
223 
224 
225 

229 
234 
245 
247 
278 
285 
287 
308 
309 
312 
313 
316 
317 
318 
31  & 
320 
323 
324 
327 
337 


344 

345 

359 

359 

382 
395 


facing    398 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Native  of  Wakolo  Village,  Lake  Wakoi.o 

View  of  the  Lake  of  Wakolo 

Signalling  Pipe  ...... 

Tree-huts  with  Dead  Bodies  suspended  below 
The  Stronghold  of  the  Dato  of  Sauo  . 
Grave-stick  in  the  Homestead  of  Sauo 
Looking  towards  Cape  Luca,  from  BiBiguq-u 
House-cluster  in  the  Kingdom  of  Bibk^u^u  . 
View  in  the  Serarata  Valley,  BiBigu(;u 
Ornamented  Comb       ..... 

Ornamentation  on  small  Bamboo 
Natives  of  Bibicu^u,  Figs.  1  to  4 
Kero  ....... 


PAGE 

facing 

■i02 

» 

405 
420 
434 

facing 

434 

437 

facing 

452 

»> 

454 
459 
462 
463 

.      465 

,466 

472 

LIST  OF  MAPS. 


PAGE 

Map  of  Eastern  Archipei.ago,  to  show  Author's  Route         facln^j        1 
Map  of  Keeling  Islands      ......  „  35 

Map  of  South  Sumatra        .         .         .         .         .         .         .    „         125 

Map  of  Tenimder  Islands  or  Timor-laut      .         .         .         .    „        298 

Sketch  Map  of  Geographical  Relations  of  the  Tenimber  Group 
(with  the  kind  permission  of  the  Council  of  the  Anthro- 
pological Institute)    ........     3G8 

Krakatau  before  and  after  the  Eruption  of  August  1883  (from 
the  '  Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society,'  with 
KIND  permission")  .         .         .......     487 


H  O  FORBES'    NATURAIJST'S    WARPERINGS    IN    TY\Y.    EASIERN    ARCTIIPELAGO 


PAET  I. 


IN  THE  COCOS-KEELING  ISLANDS. 


A  NATURALIST'S  WANDERINGS 

IN   THE 

EASTEKN  AKCHIPELAGO. 

CHAPTEK  I. 

IN   BATAVIA    AND   BUITENZORG. 

Arrival  in  Batavia— First  impressions — Buitenzorg  and  its  Botanical 
Gardens. 

On  the  8tli  October,  1878,  I  embarked  at  Southampton  on 
board  the  Royal  Dutch  ]\[ail  steamer  Celebes,  for  J3atavia, 
on  a  long-dreamt  of  visit  to  the  tropical  regions  of  the  globe. 
There  is  little  of  interest  or  novelty  to  record  nowadays  of  a 
voyage  to  the  East.  The  most  stay-at-home  is  familiar  witli 
this  ocean  highway. 

The  home-come  traveller,  however,  will  be  pleased  to  be 
reminded  of  that  pleasant  picture  nestling  between  the 
Burlings  and  the  Arabida  hills — the  stupendous  and  useless 
convent  of  Mafra,  the  sharp  turrets  and  bristling  peaks  of 
Cintra,  and  the  flasliing  towers  and  white  buildings  of  Lisbon, 
rising  from  the  banks  of  the  river.  Notwithstanding  all  I 
had  read  of  Wallace  and  of  Bates,  I  was  going  out  full  of 
extravagant  ideas  of  tropical  blossoms;  and  had  little  idea, 
as  I  rounded  the  cape  of  Gibraltar,  leaving  to  the  north  of 
me  purple  hills  of  heather,  scarlet  fields  of  poppies,  and  rich 
parterres  starred  with  cistus  and  orchids,  with  anemones 
and  geraniums,  and  sweet  with  aromatic  shrubs  and  herbs, 
that  I  would  encounter  nothing  half  so  rich  or  bright  amid 
all  the  profusion  of  the  "  summer  of  the  world." 

It  will  please  him  to  have  recalled  the  Straits  of  IMessina, 


A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


bathed  in  sunlight,  its  little  villages  with  their  olive  groves 
and  vineyards  slumbering  at  the  mouth  of  chasm-like  gorges, 
winding  away  up  amongst  the  mountains  which  ruggedly 
overshadow  them. 

In  crossing  the  IMediterranean,  we  gave  a  lift  to  tired  wag- 
tails and  swallows,  to  a  goat-sucker  and  a  fly-catcher,  and 
carried  them  into  Port  Said.  The  squalor  of  that  town,  the 
barrenness  of  the  canal  shores  and  the  arid  bareness  of  Aden 
were  a  splendid  offset  to  the  verdure  just  ahead  of  us.  In  the 
Indian  Ocean  our  friendly  yard-arms  gave  a  rest  to  several 
bee-eaters  [Merops  jyhilipjnnus),  to  a  chat  and  to  little  flocks  of 
swallows  before  we  sighted  the  Maldive  and  Laccadive  coral 
Archipelagoes.  Far  ahead  on  the  horizon  their  islets  looked 
like  a  group  of  bouquets  set  in  marble-rimmed  vases  ;  but  as 
we  approached,  the  vase  rims  changed  into  the  surf  of  the  sea 
breaking  on  the  reef  to  feed  its  builders,  and  the  bouquets 
into  clumps  of  cocoa-palms,  iron-wood,  and  other  trees  which 
the  currents  of  the  sea  have  washed  together,  and  the  passing 
winds  and  wandering  birds  have  carried  thither  to  deck  these 
lone  homes  of  the  ocean  fowl,  which  came  fijihtinn:  in  our 
wake  for  the  scraps  that  fell  from  our  floating  table. 

Holding  on  east  by  southward  for  a  few  days  more,  a  hazy 
streak  appeared  on  our  horizon,  and  my  eyes  rested  on  the 
first  of  the  IMalayan  islands — on  the  distant  peaks  of  Sumatra. 
We  anchored  at  Padang  for  a  day,  and,  in  sailing  southward 
along  its  coast,  I  could  not  admire  sufliciently  the  magnificence 
of  that  island — its  great  mountain  chain  running  parallel 
to  the  coast,  and  rising  into  smoking  peaks,  clad  with  forest  to 
the  very  crater  rims, — which  later  I  found  to  be  all  that  I  had 
pictured  it  from  the  sea,  and  more. 

On  the  morning  of  the  second  day,  we  entered  the  Sunda 
Straits,  that  narrow  water-pass  by  the  opening  of  which  between 
Java  and  Sumatra,  Nature  has  laid  under  grateful  tribute  all 
Cape-coming  and  -going  mariners  through  the  Java  Sea  to  and 
from  the  Archipelago  or  Chinese  ports.  Dotted  about  in  this 
narrow  channel,  were  low  picturesque  islands  and  solitary  cones 
of  burnt-out  craters,  towering  sheer  up  to  a  height  of  from  two 
to  three  thousand  feet,  all  clothed  in  vegetation.  Prominent 
among  the  latter  stood  out  the  sharp  cone  of  Krakatoa,  whose 
name  will  scarcely  be  forgotten  by  our  generation  at  least,  and 


IN  THE   COCOS-KEELING   ISLANDS. 

will  live  longer  in  the  sorrowful  remembrance  of  tbe  inhabitants 
of  the  shores  of  the  strait.  The  appalling  catastrophe  of 
August  the  27th,  1883,  would,  however,  sink  into  insignifi- 
cance, if  compared  with  that  which,  while  this  was  still  an 
undiscovered  sea,  must  have  withdrawn  the  foundations  of  the 
land  over  which  the  strait  now  flows. 

On  our  right  the  Java  coast  lay  in  a  series  of  beautiful 
amphitheatre  slopes,  laid  out  in  coftee-gardens  and  rice- 
terraces  ;  on  our  left  were  the  more  distant  Sumatra  shores  cut 
into  large  and  beautiful  bays  between  long  promontories,  on  the 
easternmost  of  which  stood  out  the  liigli  dome  of  Raja-basa. 
Rounding  St.  Nicholas  Point,  we  sailed  eastward  among  the 
tree-capped  Thousand  Islands.  The  coast  of  Java,  on  our 
right,  presented  a  singular  appearance,  for,  for  miles  into  the 
interior  it  seemed  elevated  above  the  level  of  the  sea  scarcely 
more  than  the  height  of  the  trees  that  covered  it.  Nothiu'*- 
could  be  seen  save  the  sea  fringe  of  vegetation  in  front  of  a 
green  plain,  behind  which  rose  the  hills  of  Bantam  and  the 
Blue  Mountains,  as  the  old  mariners  called  the  peaks  of 
Buitenzorg. 

Late  in  the  afternoon  of  the  ITtli  of  November,  the  Celebes 
dropped  her  anchor  in  Batavia  Roads,  one  of  the  greatest  centres 
of  commerce  in  all  these  seas,  amid  a  fleet  flying  the  flags 
of  all  nations.  I  had  reached  my  destination ;  but,  scan  the 
shore  as  I  might,  I  failed  to  detect  anything  like  a  town  or  even 
a  village,  only  a  low  shore  with  a  fringe  of  trees  whose  roots 
the  surf  was  lazily  lapping.  As  we  approached  the  land  in 
the  steam  tender,  into  which  we  were  at  length  transferred, 
the  shore  opened  out,  and  disclosed  the  mouth  of  a  canal, 
leading  to  the  town  a  long  mile  inland.  A  traveller,  dropped 
down  here  by  chance,  might,  from  these  canals,  make  a  very 
good  guess  at  the  nationality  of  the  dominant  power  in  the 
island,  for  these  placid  water-roads  are  as  dear  to  the  heart  of 
the  Hollander  as  heather-hills  to  a  Highlander. 

On  stepping  oft'  the  mail,  I  said  good-bye  to  western  life 
and  ways,  and  entered  on  others  new  and  strange  to  me, 
exciting  my  curiosity,  full  of  fascination,  even  bewildering, 
recalling  the  confused  sensations  of  my  first  boyish  visit  to 
the  caj)ital.  Even  in  the  cunal,  the  first  aspects  of  life  were 
intensely  interesting.     Here  and  there  a  fishing-boat  passed 


6  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

US,  novel  in  cut  and  rig,  decked  with  flowers  at  the  prow, 
rowed  out  to  sea  by  some  ten  or  twelve  dusky  fishers,  sinf^ing 
an  intermittent  song,  timed  to  the  rattle  of  their  heavy  oars 
in  the  rowlocks ;  a  little  further  on,  we  glided  past  a  fleet  of 
gaily  painted  craft,  ^lalay,  Chinese,  and  Arab,  lying  at  anchor 
under  the  canal  wall,  their  occupants,  in  bright-coloured  cali- 
coes, lounging  in  unwonted  attitudes  about  their  decks. 

Before  we  had  moored  by  the  side  of  the  Custom-house,  it 
was  quite  dark,  so  that  our  landing  was  eflected  under  some 
difficulty,  amid  the  usual  and  necessary  din  and  confusion, 
and  amid  a  very  Babel  of  foreign  tongues,  of  which  not  a 
syllable  was  intelligible  to  me,  save  here  and  there  a 
Portuguese  word  still  recognisable,  even  after  the  changes  of 
many  centuries— veritable  fossils  bedded  in  the  language  of  a 
race,  where  now  no  recollection  or  knowledge  of  the  peoples 
who  left  them  exists. 

By  dint  of  the  universal  language  of  signs,  I  got  myself  and 
baggage  at  last  transferred  to  a  carriage,  drawn  by  two  small 
splendid! V  running  ponies,  of  a  famous  breed  from  the  island 
of  Suml)awa.  After  a  drive  of  between  two  and  three  miles, 
throuo-h  what  seemed  an  endless  row  of  Chinese  bazaars 
and  houses,  remarkable  mostly,  as  seen  in  the  broken  lamp- 
light, for  their  squalor  and  stench,  before  which  their  occu- 
pants at  smoking  and  chatting,  I  at  length  emerged  into 
a  more  genial  atmosphere,  and  into  canal  and  tree-margined 
streets,  full  of  fine  residences  and  hotels,  very  conspicuous  by 
the  blaze  of  light  that  lit  uj)  their  pillared  and  marbled  fronts. 

Taking  up  my  quarters  at  the  Hotel  der  Nederlanden,  I  had 
to  be  content  with  an  uncurtained  shake-down  on  the  floor  of 
the  room  of  one  of  my  fellow-  passengers,  as  eveiy  bed  in  the 
hotel  was  occupied.  Next  morning,  to  every  one's  surprise, 
I  arose  without  a  single  mosquito  bite,  evidenily  mosquito- 
proof.  To  my  unspeakable  comfort  and  advantage,  I  re- 
mained absolutely  so  during  my  whole  sojourn  in  the  East, 
and  was  thus  relieved  of  the  necessity  of  burdening  myself 
with  furniture  against  these,  or  any  other  insect  pests  whatever. 

When  the  chaotic  confusion  of  my  first  impressions  of 
Batavia  had  become  reduced  to  order,  I  found  that  it  consisted 
of  an  old  and  a  new  town.  The  old  town  lies  near  the  strand  ; 
is  close,  dusty,  and   stifling  hot,  standing  scarcely  anything 


IN   TEE   COCOS-KEELING   ISLANDS. 


above  the  sea-level.  It  contains  the  Stadthouse,  the  offices  of 
the  Government,  with  the  various  consulates  and  banks,  all 
convenient  to  the  wharf  and  the  Custom-house,  situated  alone: 
the  banks  of  canals,  which  intersect  the  town  in  every 
direction.  Round  this  European  nucleus  cluster  the  native 
village,  the  Arab  and  the  Chinese  "  camps." 

Of  Chinamen,  Batavia  contains  many  thousands  of  inhabi- 
tants, and,  without  this  element,  she  might  almost  close  her 
warehouses,  and  send  the  fleet  that  studs  her  roads  to  ride  in 
other  harbours ;  for  every  mercantile  house  is  directly  dependent 
on  their  trade.  They  are  almost  the  sole  purchasers  of  all  the 
wares  they  have  to  dispose  of.  They  rarely  purchase  except  on 
credit,  and  a  very  sharp  eye  indeed  has  to  be  kept  on  them 
while  their  names  are  on  the  firm's  books,  for  they  are  invete- 
rate, but  clever  scoundrels,  ever  on  the  outlook  for  an  oppor- 
tunity to  defraud.  In  every  branch  of  trade,  the  Chinaman  is 
absolutely  indispensable,  and,  despite  his  entire  lack  of  moral 
attributes,  his  scoundrelism  and  dangerous  revolutionary  ten- 
dencies, he  must  be  commended  for  his  sheer  hard  work,  his 
indomitable  energy  and  perseverance  in  them  all.  There  is 
not  a  species  of  trade  in  the  town,  except,  perhaps,  that  of 
bookseller  and  chemist,  in  which  he  does  not  engage.  Many 
of  them  possess  large  and  elegantly  fitted  up  tokos  or  shops, 
filled  with  the  best  European,  Chinese,  and  Japanese  stores; 
their  workmanship  is  generally  quite  equal  to  European,  and 
in  every  case  they  can  far  undersell  their  Western  rivals. 

The  Arab,  who  like  the  Chinaman  is  prevented .  because  of 
his  intriguing  disposition  from  going  into  the  interior  of  the 
island,  does,  in  a  quiet  and  less  obtrusive  way,  a  little  shop- 
keeping  and  money-lending,  but  is  oftener  owner  of  some  sort 
of  coasting  craft,  with  which  he  trades  from  port  to  port,  or 
to  the  outlying  islands. 

The  natives  of  the  town — that  is,  coast  Malays  and  8un- 
danese — perform  only  the  most  menial  work ;  they  are  vehicle 
drivers,  the  more  intelligent  are  house  servants,  small  traders, 
and  assistants  to  the  Chinese,  but  the  bulk  are  coolies.  They 
have  no  perseverance,  and  not  much  intelligence ;  and  are 
very  lazy,  moderately  dishonest,  and  inveterate  gamblers,  but 
otherwise  innocuous. 

This   was  the   Batavia  —  fatal-climated   Batavia  —  of  past 


8  A   NATURALIST'S   WANDERINGS 


(lays.  In  this  low-lying,  close  and  stinking  neighbourhood, 
devoid  of  wholesome  water,  scorched  in  the  daytime,  and 
chilled  by  the  cold  sea  fogs  in  the  night,  did  the  Eastern 
merchant  of  half-a-ceutury  ago  reside,  as  well  as  trade.  Out 
of  this,  however,  if  he  survived  the  incessant  waves  of  fever, 
cholera,  small-pox,  and  typhoid,  he  returned  home  in  a  few 
years,  the  rich  partner  of  some  large  house,  or  the  owner  of  a 
great  fortune. 

All  this  is  changed  now.  Morning  and  evening,  the  train 
whirls  in  a  few  minutes  the  whole  European  population — 
which  tries,  in  vain,  to  amass  fortunes  like  those  of  past  times 
— to  and  from  the  open  salubrious  suburbs,  the  new  town,  of 
fine  be-gardened  residences,  each  standing  in  a  grove  of  trees 
flanking  large  parks,  the  greatest  of  which,  the  King's  Plain, 
has  each  of  its  sides  nearly  a  mile  in  length.  Here  the 
Governor-General  has  his  official  Palace — his  unofficial  resi- 
dence being  on  the  hills  at  Buitenzorg,  about  thirty  miles  to 
the  south  of  Batavia ;  and  here  are  built  the  barracks,  the  clubs, 
the  hotels,  and  the  best  shops,  dotted  along  roads  shaded  by 
leafy  Hibiscus  shrubs,  or  by  the  Poinciatia  regia,  an  imported 
Madagascar  tree,  which  should  be  seen  in  the  end  of  the  year, 
when  its  broad  spreading  top  is  one  mass  of  orange-red 
blossoms,  whose  falling  petals  redden  the  path,  as  if  from 
the  lurid  glare  of  a  fiery  canopy  above.  To  these  pleasant 
avenues,  in  the  cool  of  the  evening,  just  after  sunset,  and 
before  the  dinner-hour,  all  classes,  either  driving  or  on  foot 
resort  for  exercise  and  friendly  intercourse. 

In  front  of  the  barracks,  another  fine  park,  the  Waterloo 
Plain,  is  ornamented  by  a  tall  column,  surmounted  by  a 
rampant  lion,  with  an  inscription  to  commemorate  the  prowess 
of  the  Netherlanders  in  winuing  the  battle  of  Waterloo.  A 
remark,  perhaps  not  quite  fair,  of  a  Ceylon  friend  on  view- 
ing the  pillar  and  its  long  inscription :  "  The  lion  at  the  top 
is  not  more  conspicuous  than  the  lyin'  at  the  bottom  I  " 

Having  been  furnished,  through  the  kind  influence  of 
Professor  Suringar,  of  Leyden,  with  an  autograph  letter  of 
recommendation  from  His  Excellency  the  then  Minister  for 
the  Colonies,  to  the  Governor-General  of  the  Netherlands' 
Indies,  I  proceeded,  very  shortly  after  my  arrival,  to  Buiten- 
zorg, for  the  purpose  of  presenting  it.     From  His  Excellency 


IN   THE   COCOS-EEELING   ISLANDS.  9 

I  received  most  favourable  letters  of  commendation  to  all  in 
authority  under  his  jurisdiction,  and  parted  with  the  expres- 
sion of  his  warm  interest  and  best  wishes. 

Buitenzorg  is  one  of  the  chief  holiday  and  health  resorts  of 
sick  Batavians,  and  possesses  not  only  a  magnificent  climate, 
but  scenery  of  great  beauty  and  picturesqueness.  It  is 
overlooked  by  two  large  and  at  present  harmless  volcanic 
mountains,  the  Salak  with  its  disrupted  cone,  into  whose  very 
heart  one  looks  by  the  terrible  cleft  in  its  side,  and  the  double- 
peaked  Pangerango  and  Gede,  from  whose  crater  is  ever 
lazily  curling  up  white  vapoury  smoke  from  the  simmering 
water  which  at  present  fills  the  summit  of  its  pipe.  Besides 
the  fine  views  to  be  had  in  its  neighbourhood,  Buitenzorg  is 
chiefly  remarkable  for  its  botanic  garden,  perhaps  the  finest 
in  the  world,  which  surrounds  the  Governor's  palace,  and  in 
which  many  weeks  might  be  profitably  and  delightfully  spent 
by  the  botanist. 

To  3Ir.  Teysmann,  who  died  but  recently,  after  some  sixty 
years  of  unbroken  service  in  it,  the  garden  is  largely  in- 
debted for  the  actual  ingathering  of  the  bulk  of  its  treasures. 
For  fifty  years  he  was  engaged  in  collecting  through  tlie 
islands  of  the  Archipelago ;  and  some  of  the  rarest  and  finest 
specimens  in  it,  brought  as  seeds  by  him,  he  had  the  satisfaction 
of  seeing  develop  into  the  grandest  of  its  trees. 

A  long  wide  avenue  of  Kanarie  [Canarium  commune)  trees 
traverses  the  centre  of  the  garden,  which  interlacing  high 
overhead  in  a  superb  leafy  canopy,  affords  at  all  hours  of  the 
day  a  delightful  promenade.  Near  the  principal  entrance  a 
tall  Amherstia  nobilis  forms  in  the  rainy  season,  when  it  is 
ablaze  with  immense  scarlet  flower-trosses  and  plumes  of  young 
leaves  of  the  richest  brown,  a  remarkable  object  of  beauty.  On 
the  right  the  garden  descends  to  its  boundary  stream  tlirough 
arboreta  of  Buteas,  Cassias,  Calliandras,  Tamarinds,  and  Poin- 
cianas,  to  groves  of  Bromeleads  and  tall  Cadacese,  Pandans, 
Xipas,  Cyca<ls  and  climbing  Screw-pines;  to  i)lots  of  Ama- 
ryllide/v,  Iris  and  water-loving  plants  ;  and  beneath  the  richest 
palmetum  in  the  world,  its  glory  perhaps  the  Cyrtostachys 
rendu,  whose  long  bright  scarlet  leaf  sheaths  and  flower- 
spathes,  and  its  red  fruit  and  deep  yellow  inflorescence  hanging 
side  by  side,  at  once  arrest  the  eye. 


10  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

Bordering  the  stream  is  quite  a  little  forest  of  oaks,  laurels 
and  figs,  many  of  them  yet  unknown  to  science,  merging  in  a 
long,  dark,  tunnel-like  corridor  of  banyan  trees.  In  a  dense 
clump  affixed  to  tall  tree  ferns  and  Cambodias,  whose  white, 
heavy-odoured  flowers  entirely  carpeted  the  ground,  were 
thousands  of  orchids  from  all  countries,  most  of  them  blossom- 
ino-  as  profusely  as  in  their  native  habitat,  except  a  few  of 
the  higher  and  cooler-living  New  World  species,  such  as  the 
Cattleyas,  which  gradually  dwindle  away  and  die  out  in  a  few 
years.  More  strangely,  the  native  Phaloenopses  {amdbilis  and 
graridijlord)  refuse  to  thrive  in  the  gardens,  750  feet  above 
the  sea,  while  in  Batavia  few  plants  flower  so  luxuriantly  as 
they  do. 

On  the  left  of  the  central  walk  there  are  two  remarkable 
avenues  ;  the  one  of  stately  Brazilian  palms,  the  Oreodoxa 
oleracea,  whose  globular  base  and  smooth  ringed  stems,  were  as 
straight  and  symmetrical  as  if  turned  in  a  lathe,  and  in  their 
whiteness  contrasted  markedly  with  the  deep  green  of  the  leaf 
sheaths  and  crown  of  foliage  ;  the  other  of  bamboos,  remarkable 
for  the  number  and  luxuriance  of  its  species.  The  curious  root- 
growing  Rafflesias,  the  Amoiyhopliallus  titanum,  a  giant  arum, 
and  the  Teysmannia  altifrons,  a  rare  broad-leafed  palm,  from 
Sumatra,  and  others  as  rare,  which  would  require  too  long  a  list 
to  enumerate,  were  to  be  studied  here.  My  daily  morning 
round  of  the  garden  invariably  terminated  in  a  seat  under  an 
umbrageous  india-rubber  tree,  in  front  of  which  a  fountain 
played  into  a  circular  pond  dotted  with  blue  and  white  flowers 
of  water-lilies  and  Victoria  regias.  In  the  sparkling  light  of 
the  early  sun  it  was  the  most  charming  of  spots  for  a  rest. 


IN   THE    COCOS-KEELING   ISLANDS.  11 


CHAPTER  II. 

SOJOURN    IN    THE    COCOS-KEELING    ISLANDS. 

Start  for  the  Cocos-Keeling  Islands — In  the  Straits  of  Sunda — An  unex- 
pected pilot— Arrival — History  of  the  colony  tliere — Terrible  cyclones: — 
Home  life  of  the  colonists  now — The  reef  and  its  builders — Fishes  in  the 
lagoon — Crabs  and  their  operations— Plant  life — Insect  life — Mammals 
— Birds. 

The  end  of  the  year  1878  was  noted  for  its  very  heavy  rains, 
which  in  the  month  of  December  were  at  their  worst.  Trans- 
port and  travel  were  not  only  difficult,  but  in  many  districts 
impossible.  Just  as  I  was  getting  rather  puzzled  as  to  how 
to  get  away  anywhere  out  of  Batavia,  I  learned  that  a  small 
sailing  craft,  on  which  I  was  offered  a  passage,  was  on  the  point 
of  leaving  for  the  Cocos-Keeling  Islands.  With  this  outlying 
spot,  made  famous  by  Mr.  Darwin's  visit  in  1836,  I  was 
familar  from  his  '  Coral  Reefs.'  It  did  not,  therefore,  take  me 
long  to  decide  to  accept  an  offer  which  was  as  gratifying  as  it 
was  unexpected. 

After  a  wearisome  fight  of  fourteen  days  with  the  Monsoon 
wind  at  the  entrance  of  the  Sunda  Straits,  we  succeeded  in 
reaching  the  little  village  of  Anjer,  where  we  stopped  a  day  to 
replenish  our  failing  stores  of  provisions,  and  to  eat  our  New 
Year's  feast  in  the  picturesque  inn  there,  whose  verandah 
commanded  a  delightful  view  of  the  island-studded  strait  and 
of  the  rugged  mountains  of  Sumatra  on  the  other  side.  The 
wind,  which  had  opposed  us  so  i)ersistently,  had  on  the  day  we 
again  set  sail  subsided  altogether,  and  it  was  with  the  greatest 
difficulty  that  we  could  haul  clear  off  the  land.  Day  after  day 
brought  us  a  monotonous  calm. 

It  was  something,  however,  that  at  this  season  the  forest 
along  the  slowly  passing  shores  and  isles  was  in  the  full  burst 
of  spring,  when  it  wears  in  the  morning  light  its  most  charming 
aspect,  of  surpassing  beauty  to  my  novitiate  eyes ;  the  piping 


12  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

mid-day  alone  was  ungrateful,  almost  unbearable,  exposed  to 
the  sun,  as  we  were,  without  awning  or  protection  ;  the  evening- 
sunsets  were  scenes  to  be  remembered  for  a  lifetime.  The  tall 
cones  of  Sibissie  and  Krakatoa  rose  dark  purple  out  of  an  un- 
rufHed  golden  sea,  which  stretched  away  to  the  south-west,  where 
the  sun  went  down ;  over  the  horizon  grey  fleecy  clouds  lay  in 
banks  and  streaks,  above  them  pale  blue  lanes  of  sky,  alternating 
with  orange  bands,  which  higher  up  gave  place  to  an  expanse 
of  red  stretching  round  the  whole  heavens.  Gradually  as  the 
sun  retreated  deeper  and  deeper,  the  sky  became  a  marvellous 
golden  curtain,  in  front  of  which  the  grey  clouds  coiled  them- 
selves into  weird  forms  before  dissolving  into  space,  taking 
with  them  our  last  hope  that  they  might  contain  a  breeze,  and 
leaving  us  at  rest  on  the  placid  water,  over  which  shoals  of 
water-bugs  (of  the  genus  Halobates  probably)  glided,  covering 
its  surface  with  circles  like  gentle  rain-drop  rings ;  there  was 
not  a  sound  to  break  the  silence  save  tlie  plunge  of  a  porpoi$e 
or  the  fluck  of  the  fishes  in  quest  of  their  evening  meal. 
Perhaps  these  rich  after-glows  were  due  to  the  Kaba  eruption 
then  jroinfi^  on  in  Mid-Sumatra. 

One  day,  we  passed  a  large  log  in  the  sea  floating  in  the 
current,  to  which  numerous  little  crabs  were  clinging,  on  their 
way,  perhaps,  to  colonise  some  new  and  distant  shore. 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  sixteenth  day  of  weary  beating  from 
Anjer,  a  pure  white  tern  suddenly  appeared,  and,  circling  about 
the  vessel,  produced  quite  a  flutter  of  excitement.  It  was  the 
lovely  Gygis  Candida,  one  of  the  Keeling  Island  birds,  whicli 
our  native  boatswain  declared  never  went  far  from  home,  and 
that  Ave  must,  therefore,  be  near  our  destination. 

Several  of  the  sailors  ran  aloft,  and  in  a  few  minutes 
descried  to  the  northward  the  crowns  of  the  higher  cocoa- 
nut  palms  on  the  southern  islands.  We  straightway  changed 
our  course  ;  for  our  skipper  had  evidently  miscalculated  our 
noon  position,  and,  but  for  this  timely  jiilot,  would  have  sailed 
past  in  the  night.  At  sundown  the  islands  aj^peared  from  the 
deck  as  a  dark  uneven  line,  rising  little  above  the  horizon  ;  at 
ten  o'clock  we  cautiously  sailed  in  to  the  anchorage  in  the 
lagoon,  lighted  througli  by  the  phosphorescence  from  shoals  of 
large  fishes,  which  darted  like  rockets  from  below  our  keel. 

The  scene  that  met  mv  eves  next  morninir  was  a  curious 


7.V   THE   COCOS-KEELING  ISLANDS.  13 

one  :  a  calm  lake-like  sea  enclosed  by  a  palisade  of  palm  trees 
on  a  narrow  riband  of  land.  My  first  feelings  were  those  of 
surprise  at  the  size  of  the  atoll ;  for  it  was  very  much  smaller 
than  the  mental  picture  I  had  formed  of  it  from  studying 
the  Admiralty  chart,  and  then  of  wonder  that  such  a  speck 
could  hold  its  own  against  the  relentless  ocean,  which  seemed 
as  if  it  might  wash  it  away  in  any  angry  moment. 

To  form  by  personal  observation  more  clear  ideas  of  coral 
formation,  and  chiefly  to  note  how  the  struggle  between  the 
reef-makers  and  the  waves  had  been  going  during  the  past 
forty-three  years,  and  perhaps  the  pride  of  saying  I  had 
lived  on  a  reef,  being  the  objects  of  my  coming,  no  amount 
of  dissimilarity  from  conceived  ideas  could  disappoint  me,  or 
cause  me  to  regret  my  visit ;  but  I  could  not  help  thinking 
that  it  was  a  woe-begone  spot  to  choose  for  a  perpetual  home, 
and  a  limited  field  to  expend  one's  energies  on. 

j\Ir.  G.  C.  Ross,  the  proprietor,  shortly  came  on  board,  and 
with  the  most  hearty  greeting  welcomed  me ;  he  rowed  me 
ashore,  and,  without  power  of  gainsay,  installed  me  as  guest  in 
his  comfortable  home,  for  I  was  the  first  European  who,  not 
by  compulsion  of  weather  or  other  disaster,  but  really  of  set 
purpose,  had  during  that  period  visited  his  island.  We  sat 
far  into  the  night  talking  together,  and  I  scarcely  know  which 
of  us  seemed  most  eager  to  learn.  The  rapid  question  and 
reply  shot  between  us  incessantly  to  the  early  hours,  and  as 
we  sat  and  talked,  it  was  with  an  eerie  feeling  that  I  felt  the 
very  foundations  of  the  land  thrill  under  my  feet  at  every  dull 
boom  of  the  surf  on  the  outward  barrier — I  conveying  to  my 
host's  household  all  that  was  stranfrest  and  most  interesting; 
from  the  busy  centres  of  civilisation,  in  politics  (a  far  cry  to 
them),  in  discovery  and  in  invention,  all  that  was  newest  from 
the  outer  and,  to  them,  far-off  world  ;  he  relating  to  me  the 
thrilling  domestic  annals  of  liis  island  domain. 

Half  a  century  had  elapsed  since  his  grandfather,  descended 
of  an  old  Scottish  family  wrecked  in  the  troublous  times  of 
1743,  having  brought  an  adventurous  seafaring  life  to  a  close 
in  command  of  one  of  the  vessels  stationed  in  the  Java  Sea, 
for  tlm  protection  of  British  interests  during  our  occupation 
of  tliat  island,  had  landed  in  December,  182.3,  and  virtually 
taken  possession  of  the  group.  His  intention  was  to  make 
3 


A   NATURALIST'S   WANDERINGS 


the  spot  a  call  port  for  the  repair  and  provisioning  of 
vessels  voyaj^ing  between  home  and  China,  Australia,  and 
India.  Without  then  taking  up  residence,  he  proceeded  to 
England,  but  returned  in  1827  with  his  wife  and  family  of  six 
children,  accompanied  by  twelve  Englishmen,  one  Javanese, 
and  one  Portuguese.  On  landing  he  was  surprised  to  find 
another  Englishman,  Mr.  Alexander  Hare,  in  possession  of  a 
third  part  of  the  group.  This  gentleman  had  held  a  govern- 
ment post  in  South  Borneo  during  the  English  supremacy  in 
the  Sunda  Islands  ;  but  having  tried  to  assume  the  state  of 
an  independent  ruler,  which  on  the  reinstalment  of  Dutch 
authority,  he  found  himself  unable  to  hold,  he  retired  here 
with  a  larfje  harem  of  various  nationalities  and  numerous 
slaves,  whom  he  treated  with  great  harshness. 

Mr.  Ross,  having  brought  out  his  English  apprentices  on  an 
understanding  that,  as  the  whole  atoll  was  his  own,  there 
would  be,  in  the  development  of  its  resources,  sufficient 
outlet  for  their  energies,  was  much  discouraged  by  the  turn 
affairs  had  assumed.  Hare  exhibited  a  very  unfriendly  spirit 
towards  the  new-comers,  so  that,  on  Mr.  Eoss  offering  his 
people  a  release  from  their  agreement,  all,  except  three  (a 
woman  and  two  men),  took  the  first  opportunity  of  leaving  in 
one  of  11. M.  gunboats  which  touched  at  the  islands.  Ross 
managed,  however,  to  increase  his  party  by  seven  or  eight 
persons  from  Java,  and  later  on  by  additional  Europeans,  some 
of  them  his  own  relatives.  With  a  large  number  of  Sundanese 
coolies,  hired  in  Batavia,  hj  opened  a  trade  in  cocoanuts  with 
the  Mauritius,  with  Madras,  and  with  Bencoolen  and  various 
other  ports  of  the  Archipelago. 

Possessed  of  a  considerable  fortune.  Hare  lived  for  some  time 
a  lethargic  life  in  mock  regal  style,  in  the  midst  of  the  con- 
stant discord  and  jealousies  of  his  retinue,  and  in  hostility  to 
his  neighbour.  For  the  protection  of  what  he  considered  an  im- 
portantly situated  island,  and  of  his  own  rights,  Ross  solicited 
the  authorities  in  the  i\Iauritius  to  take  the  group  under  their 
protection — a  responsibility  they  did  not  see  it  advisable  to 
assume.  Hare,  on  the  other  hand,  covertly  instigated  the 
Dutch  Government  to  claim  possession,  a  suggestion  which 
the  Batavian  officials  entertained  only  so  far  as  to  send  a 
gunboat   to    examine   and   report  on   the    condition   of    the 


IN  I  HE   COCOS-KEELING  ISLANDS.  15 

islands.  Direct  application  was  then  made  by  Eoss  to  King 
William  to  proclaim  the  atoll  English  territory,  but  without 
success.  Hare,  after  several  years  of  a  most  worthless  sort 
of  existence,  took  his  departure  for  Singapore,  where  it  is  said 
he  shortly  after  died. 

Mr.  Darwin's  visit  took  place  not  very  long  after  Hare's 
departure,  and  just  after  the  change  of  the  settlement  from 
South-Eastern  to  New  Selima  Island  and  his  report  as  to  the 
comfortable  and  flourishing  state  of  the  young  colony  at  that 
time  is  not  very  ftivourable.  It  was  always  a  subject  of  keen 
regret  to  Mr.  Eoss,  that  on  Mr.  Darwin's  visit,  in  1836,  he 
was  not  at  home.  IMr.  Leisk,  who  was  in  charge,  showed  Mr. 
Darwin  over  the  place,  and  gave  him  a  great  deal  of  infor- 
mation, but  though  given  in  good  faith,  much  of  it  was  not 
quite  accurate.  After  a  few  years  of  peaceful  and  undisturbed 
possession  of  the  atoll,  the  whole  of  which  Mr.  Eoss  then  laid 
claim  to,  it  attained  to  a  most  prosperous  condition ;  and 
its  ships  became  well  known  throughout  the  Archipelago, 
Eoss  himself  being  styled  the  King  of  the  Cocos  Islands. 
Two  villages  were  erected,  one  for  the  hired  coolies,  and  the 
other,  a  little  way  distant,  for  the  Euroj)eans  and  those  who 
threw  in  their  lot  with  the  new  colony  and  were  to  share  its 
fortunes — the  true  Cocos  colonists.  I'his  state  of  prosperity 
was  due  mainly  to  the  efforts  of  his  eldest  son — the  father 
devoting  the  closing  years  of  his  life  chiefly  to  study.*  Their 
trade  prospered  and  afi'orded  a  handsome  annual  balance 
for  many  years,  and  altogether  life  seems  to  have  been  very 
pleasant  save  for  one  element,  the  hired  population. 

The  only  coolies  wlio  could  be  got  to  engage  to  leave  Java  for 
a  term  of  years,  were  criminals  who  had  served  their  time  in  the 
chain-gangs  of  Batavia,  and  as  they  far  outnumbered  the  Euro- 
peans and  colonists,  and  werecapableof  any  atrocity,  they  were 
a  constant  source  of  danger,  and  a  heavy  anxiety  to  those  in 
charge.  Every  night  a  strongly  armed  patrol  of  true  Cocos 
people  had  to  mount  guard  from  sunset  to  sunrise,  and  still 
continues  to  do  so,  with  military  regularity  and  rigour,  the 
watches  being  struck,  as  on  ship  board,  all  through  the  night. 

*  By  ."v  curious  mistal<c  in  tliO  Ttoyal  Society's  Catalogue  of  Scientific 
P;il)ers,  Mr.  J.  C.  Hoss's  criticisiii  of  Mr.  Darwin's  '  Cural  Keefs'  is  attributed 
to  Sir  J.  C.  Koss,  the  Arctic  explorer. 


16  A   NATURALIST'S   WANDERINGS 

From  the  amount  of  cocoa-nut  husk,  or  coir,  as  well  as  from 
the  combustible  nature  of  all  the  buildings  and  of  the  palm 
trees  themselves,  incendiarism  was  the  crime  most  feared  at 
the  hands  of  the  lawless.  Consequently  it  was  sternly  enforced 
that  every  individual  should  report  himself  at  the  guard-house 
at  a  fixed  hour ;  and  that  every  fire  should  be  quenched  at 
sunset.  It  was  penal  for  anyone  to  spend  the  night  on  any 
but  the  Home  island,  without  express  permission  from  the 
captain  of  the  guard.  Every  boat  was  numbered  and  had  to 
be  in  its  place  an  hour'  before  sunset ;  if  it  were  not,  by  tock  of 
drum  a  muster  was  called,  the  absentees  noted,  and  a  search 
instantly  instituted,  to  bring  back  the  defaulters  or  to  render 
aid  in  case  of  accident. 

Unsullied  as  their  history  began,  it  was  not  long  till  a 
Black  Calendar  had  to  be  added  to  their  island  archives. 
Criminals  invariably  betook  themselves  to  the  concealment  of 
the  forest-clad  islets,  v/here  they  could  often  elude  capture 
for  weeks ;  but,  unless  they  could  steal  a  provisioned  boat, 
which  was  almost'  impossible,  they  could  get  no  further. 
The  tale  of  the  restless  dread  and  suspense  which  held  the 
whole  community,  when  some  mutineer,  with  the  desperate 
spirit  of  amoh  in  him,  was  at  large,  and  the  exciting  efforts  to 
effect  and  to  elude  capture,  was  a  chapter,  which  demanded 
little  from  the  narrator's  art,  to  engage  my  sympathies  and  my 
profound  interest  in  this  community,  living  its  chequered  life 
so  far  from  the  sympathies  of  the  world. 

To  prevent  any  temptation  to  robbery  no  coined  money 
is  allowed  on  the  atoll.  The  currency  is  in  sheep-skin  notes 
signed  by  Mr.  Eoss,  which  are  good  as  between  member  and 
member  of  the  community.  AVages  are  paid  in  these  cr 
in  goods  and  food  articles  brought  regularly  from  Batavia, 
while  the  notes  are  exchangeable  for  Dutch  money  in  Batavia 
on  presentation  to  Mr.  lloss's  agent. 

On  the  olst  March,  1857,  as  a  large  inscribed  board  near 
the  landing  place  on  Home  island  proclaims.  Captain  Fre- 
mantle  in  H.M.S.  Juno  visited  the  Cocos  Islands,  and,  after 
the  usual  royal  salute,  declared  them  part  of  the  British 
dominions,  and  Mr.  Ross  (the  father  of  the  present  proprietor) 
their  Governor  during  Her  Majesty's  pleasure.  The  whole 
was,  it  appears,  a  ludicrous  mistake  on  the  part  of  Captain 


7.V   THE   COCOS-KEELING   ISLANDS.  17 

Fremantle,  for  the  island  intended  to  be  annexed  was  one  of 
the  same  name  somewhere  in  the  Andaman  group !  It  is 
gratifying,  however,  to  know  that  the  ishinds  are  after  all 
really  British  territory,  for  I  myself  carried  down  a  copy  of 
the  Proclamation  in  the  Ceijlon  Gazette  of  November  1878,  by 
which  the  Cocos-Keeling  Islands  were  annexed  to  the  Govern- 
ment of  Ceylon,  ''  to  prevent  any  foreign  power  stepping  in 
and  taking  possession  of  them,  for  the  purpose  of  settlement, 
or  for  a  coaling  station,"  as  Russian  agents,  it  was  reported,  had 
been  examining  the  locality  with  sinister  views. 

The  islands  being  of  extreme  salubrity,  the  true  Keeling 
population,  now  mostly  of  mixed  blood,  had  rapidly  increased, 
and  they  enjoyed  unbroken  prosperity  till  J  862,  when  a 
cyclone  in  a  few  hours  entirely  wrecked  their  homes.  The 
present  proprietor,  the  third  in  succession,  then  a  student 
of  engineering  in  Glasgow,  was  hurriedly  summoned  to  aid 
his  father  in  the  restoration  of  the  islands,  a  task  he  was 
suddenly  left  alone  to  accomplish,  when  quite  a  young  man, 
by  the  death  of  his  parent.  Abandoning  all  the  more 
ambitious  plans  of  his  life,  he  gave  himself  up  to  the  new 
position  which  he  had  been  so  unexpectedly  called  to  fill,  and 
with  the  warmest  heartiness  threw  himself  into  all  the  interests 
of  the  islanders.  He  devised  and  has  carried  out  liberal  plans 
for  their  improvement,  and  for  the  advancement  of  those  com- 
mitted to  his  charge.  Marrying  a  Cocos-born  wife,  who  shared 
his  ideas  and  interests,  they  became  the  parents  of  the  people 
rather  than  their  masters  and  rulers. 

As  rapidly  as  possible  he  rid  himself  of  the  chain-gang  men, 
and  being  able,  by  a  change  in  the  laws  at  Batavia,  to  obtain 
coolies  of  the  non-criminal  class,  he  engaged  only  those  of 
the  best  character.  He  cleared  off  the  remaining  forest  and 
planted  the  ground  with  palms.  Success  attended  his  efforts. 
At  length  he  brought  into  the  Indian  Ocean  the  new  sounds 
of  the  puffing  of  steam  mills,  the  whirring  of  lathes  and  saws, 
and  the  clang  of  the  anvil.  The  general  education  of  the 
children  has  h^fin  under  a  younger  brother  of  Mr.  Boss's, 
educated  in  a  Scottish  university.  Every  Cocos  man  has  had, 
besides  performing  his  ordinary  duties  of  gathering  nuts 
and  preparing  oil — which,  exchanged  in  Batavia,  returns  as 
gain,  or  the  food  which  they  cannot  produce  within  their  own 


18  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

bounds — to  learn  to  work — and  their  proficiency  astonished  me 
— in  brass,  iron  and  wood.  Every  Cocos  girl  has  had  her  term 
of  apprenticeship  to  spend  in  Mrs.  Boss's  house  in  learning 
under  her  direction  sewing,  cooking,  and  every  house- wifely 
duty  as  practised  in  European  homes.  I  shall  not  soon 
forget  the  deft  handmaiden — female  servants  were  employed 
ta  do  all  the  liousehold  work — who  attended  to  my  room  ; 
she  was  a  tall  Papuan,  who  had  been  rescued  from  slavery, 
now  one  of  the  true  Cocos  people,  in  whom  all  tke  grace  of 
body  and  limb  that  slie  inherited  from  her  race  had  developed, 
under  the  happy  circumstances  under  which  she  had  come, 
into  the  perfection  of  the  human  female  figure.  She  could  not 
have  performed  her  work  with  more  neatness  and  dexterity  had 
she  been  trained  at  home.  With  all  the  respect  of  a  servant,  she 
mingled  a  kind  solicitude  in  looking  after  my  comfort  and 
attending  to  my  wants,  which  as  a  daughter  of  the  island  to  its 
guest,  she  might  without  presumption  use.  A  fresh  rose  was 
daily  laid  on  my  pillow  and  on  the  folded-down  counterpane, 
while,  that  the  water  in  my  basin  might  seem  fresher  than  its 
sparkling  self,  she  sprinkled  it  with  fragrant  rose  leaves. 

No  more  flourishing  or  contented  community  could  have 
been  found  at  the  opening  of  1870,  than  its  500  island-born 
inhabitants.  On  the  25th  of  January,  however,  the  mercurial 
barometer  indicated  some  unusual  atmosjjheric  disturbance, 
and  the  air  felt  extremely  heavy  and  oppressive.  On  the  28th 
it  fell  to  close  on  28  inches,  a  warning  which  gave  time  for 
all  boats  to  be  hauled  to  a  place  of  safety,  and  other  prepara- 
tions for  a  storm  to  be  made.  On  the  afternoon  of  the  same 
day,  there  appeared  in  the  western  sky  an  ominously  dark 
bank  of  clouds,  and  at  4  p.m.  a  cyclone  of  unwonted  fury  burst 
over  this  part  of  the  Indian  Ocean.  The  storehouses  and 
mills,  but  recently  renewed,  were  completely  gutted  and  de- 
molished ;  every  house  in  both  villages  was  carried  completely 
away.  Among  the  palm-trees  the  wind  seems  to  have  played 
a  frantic  and  capricious  devil's  dance.  Pirouetting  wildly 
round  the  atoll,  in  some  places  it  had  cleared  lanes  hundreds 
of  yards  in  length,  snapping  off  the  trees  close  to  the  ground ; 
in  others,  it  had  swooped  down,  without  making  an  entrance  or 
exit  path,  and  borne  bodily  away  large  circular  patches,  leaving 
unharmed  the  encircling  trees ;  here  and  there,  sometimes  in 


IN   THE   COCOS-KEELING   ISLANDS.  19 

the  centre  of  dense  clumps,  selecting  a  single  stem — a  thick 
tree  of  thirty  years'  growth — it  had  danced  with  it  one  light- 
ning revolution,  and  left  it  a  permanent  spiral  screw  perfectly 
turned,  but  otherwise  uninjured. 

About  midnight  of  the  28th,  when  intense  darkness  would 
have  prevailed  but  for  the  incessant  blaze  of  lightning,  whose 
accompanying  thunder  was  drowned  by  the  roar  of  the  tempest, 
when  every  one  was  endeavouring  to  save  what  rice — the  only 
provision  spared  to  them — they  could,  Mr.  Ross  discovered  to 
his  horror,  the  bowsprit  of  a  vessel  which  had  been  lying  at 
anchor,  riding  on  the  top  of  a  great  wave  straight  for  the  wall 
behind  which  they  sheltered.  There  was  just  time  to  make 
themselves  fast  before  the  water  rushed  over  them,  fortunately 
without  carrying  the  ship  through  the  wall ;  a  second  wave 
washed  completely  over  the  spot  where  Ross's  house  had  stood, 
distant  150  yards  from  high-water  mark.  The  storm  attained 
its  height  about  one  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  29th.  At  that 
hour  nothing  could  resist  the  unsubstantial  air,  worked  into  a 
fury ;  no  obstacle  raised  a  foot  or  two  above  the  ground  could 
resist  its  violence.  The  inhabitants  saved  themselves  only 
by  lying  in  hollows  of  the  ground.  To  what  distance  the 
barometer  might  have  fallen,  it  is  impossible  to  say,  for  the 
mercurial  was  carried  away,  and  two  aneroids  gave  in  at 
26k  inches. 

The  following  morning  broke  bright  and  calm,  as  if  the 
tempestuous  riot  of  the  night  might  have  been  an  evil  dream, 
only  not  a  speck  of  green  could  be  seen  anywhere  within  the 
compass  of  the  islands.  Round  the  whole  atoll  the  solid  coral 
conglomerate  floor  was  scooped  under,  broken  up  and  thrown  in 
vast  fragments  on  the  beach.  On  the  eastern  shore  of  Home 
Island,  in  })articular  just  opposite  the  settlement,  I  observed 
a  wall  of  many  yards  breadth,  portions  of  it  thrown  up  clear 
over  the  external  high  rim  of  the  island,  and  several  yards 
inwards  among  the  cocoanut  trees,  all  along  the  margin  of  the 
island.  After  six  months,  every  tree  and  shrub  was  clothed 
in  verdure ;  and  before  three  years,  they  were  in  full  bearing 
again. 

About  tliirty-six  hours  after  the  cyclone  the  water  on  the 
eastern  side  of  the  lagoon  was  observed  to  be  lising  uj)  from 
below  of  a  dark   colour.     The   origin   of  the   spring,    which 


20  A   NATURALIST'S   WANDERINGS 


continued  to  ooze  out  for  about  ten  to  fourteen  days,  lay  some- 
where between  the  southern  end  of  New  Selima  and  the 
northern  end  of  Gooseberry  Island.  The  colour  was  of  an  inky 
hue,  and  its  smell  "  like  that  of  rotten  eggs."  From  this  point 
it  spread  south-westward  as  far  as  the  deep  baylet  in  South- 
east Island,  where  meeting  the  currents,  flowing  in  at  the 
westward  and  northern  entrances,  which  run,  the  one  round 
the  western,  the  other  round  the  eastern  shore  of  the  lagoon, 
its  westward  progress  was  stopped ;  whereupon,  turning  north- 
wards through  the  middle  of  the  lagoon  (becoming  slightly 
less  dark  as  it  proceeded),  it  debouched  into  the  ocean  by  the 
northern  channel.  Within  twenty-four  hours,  every  fish,  coral 
and  mollusc,  in  the  part  impregnated  with  this  discolouring 
substance — probably  hydrosulphuric  or  carbonic  acid — died. 
So  groat  was  the  number  of  fish  thrown  on  the  beach,  that  it 
took  tliree  weeks  of  hard  work  to  bury  them  in  a  vast  trench 
dug  in  tlie  sand. 

At  the  time  of  my  visit,  the  islands  were  slowly  recovering 
from  this  sad  disaster,  and  the  whole  settlement,  living  far  from 
the  busy  strife  of  the  Avorld,  yet  sufficiently  mingling  with 
it  to  afford  contentment  without  envy,  seemsd  tha  ideal  of  a 
peaceful  and  happy  colony.  Mr.  Rjss,  who  is  associated  with 
several  of  his  brothers,  occupies  a  commodious  and  comfortable 
house  midway  between  the  two  villages,  surrounded  by  a  high 
wall,  enclosing  a  large  garden  in  which  fruit-trees  and  shrubs 
— sow  manilla  [Mimusops),  bananas,  loquat  {Erioh-drya),  Poin- 
cianas,  and  roses  in  grand  profusion, — seem  to  flourish  remark- 
ably well,  notwithstanding  the  scanty  soih  Each  Keeling 
family  possesses  its  own  neat  plank  house,  comfortably  fur- 
nished, enclosed  in  a  little  garden.  Housed  in  a  trim  shed  by 
the  water's  edge,  each  has  one  or  more  boats.  These  boats  are 
their  pride ;  and  so  ardently  do  they  vie  with  each  other  in 
their  sj)eed,  and  in  the  elegance  of  their  shape  and  furnishings, 
that  the  village  possesses  a  fleet  of  really  masterpieces  of  boat 
architecture.  Living  on  the  sea,  as  they  do,  they  are  all  from 
their  birth  naturally  skilful  sailors  ;  and  one  of  the  pleasantest 
reminiscences  of  my  visit,  is  the  sight  of  that  little  white- 
sailed  fleet  beating  home  across  the  lagoon,  in  a  sunny  evening, 
against  a  stiffish  breeze. 

It   was  exceedingly   pleasant   to   observe    the  cordial  and 


IN   THE   COCOS-EEELING   ISLANDS.  21 


affectionate  relations  existing  between  The  House  and  the  Coeos 
village.  I  noted  little  presents  of  first  ripe  fruit,  or  specially- 
large  eggs  constantly  being  offered.  AVhen  a  death  occurs — 
as  one  did  during  my  visit — it  is  felt  by  each  individual  as  if 
the  departed  had  been  of  his  own  family.  The  interment 
takes  place  as  soon  as  possible,  and  the  usual  vocations  are 
resumed  at  once,  every  one  trying,  as  best  he  may,  to  seem  as 
if  he  had  forgotten  that  they  were  one  fewer.  That  in  their 
relations  one  with  another  there  should  be  perfection,  is  not  to 
be  exjiected,  but  a  finer  and  more  upright  community  I  have 
never  known  ;  not  a  simpler  or  more  guileless  people — many 
of  whom  have  never  known,  and  never  seen  a  world  wider  than 
their  own  atoll,  which  can  be  surveyed  in  a  single  glance  of 
the  eye  ;  and  I  feel  more  than  half  confident  that  the  English 
Service  for  the  Dead  has  been  said  over,  and  that  beneath  the 
coral  shingle  of  Grave  Islet  there  rest,  as  blameless  lives  as 
perhaps  our  weak  humanity  can  attain  to. 

The  labourers'  village  is  neatly  kept,  and  though  the  coolies 
live  under  a  stricter  regime,  they  are  treated  liberally  and 
kindly,  and  housed  in  comfortable  dwellings.  Their  children 
are  educated  along  with  the  Cocos  children.  Should  a  head  of 
a  family  die,  his  children  are,  at  the  mother's  oj)tion,  sent 
back  to  their  native  place  in  Java,  or  if  she  elect,  she  and 
they  may  throw  in  their  lot  with,  and  after  a  certain  probation 
become,  Cocos  people.  Malay  is  the  language  spoken  in  both 
villages,  though  many  of  the  Cocos  people  understand  English. 

As  this  was  my  first  acquaintance  with  living  coral  formation, 
everything  about  me  had  the  interest  of  novelty.  jMy  first 
morning's  walk  was  to  the  seaward  margin  of  the  reef.  As  half 
a  century  is  hardly  a  day's  life  in  the  existence  of  an  atoll,  Mr. 
Darwin's  accurate  description  of  that  part  of  it  might  have 
been  written  the  day  before.  The  waves  so  continually  break 
on  the  shore,  that  it  is  difficult,  except  on  the  very  stillest 
days,  to  examine  the  coral  on  the  furthest  margin  ;  yet  I  got 
every  now  and  then,  on  the  recoil  of  the  waves,  a  good  view  of 
the  shoals  of  Scams  feeding  in  the  surf  on  the  living  coral. 
They  are  furnished  on  the  front  of  their  heads  with  soft  pads, 
so  as  to  be  able  to  retain  their  position  undisturbed  among  the 
breakers,  by  squeezing  hard  up  against  the  uneven  wall,  while 
they  are  gnawing  off  the  tips  of  the  living  polyps.     During 


22  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

my  visit  I  had,  no  very  calm  days  ;  but  in  the  still  waters  of 
tlie  lagoon  there  was  enough  to  occupy  the  busiest  pair  of  eyes 
for  weeks. 

The  wonderful  display  of  colour  seen  in  the  placid  water  of  a 
lagoon  has  been  often  described ;  but  it  can  give  to  one,  who 
has  not  himself  visited  a  coral  reef,  but  a  very  slight  idea  of 
the  fairy  bowers  to  be  seen  from  over  the  side  of  a  boat 
gliding  gently  across  the  surface  of  such  a  marine  lake. 

I  carefully  examined  that  part  of  the  lagoon  over  which  the 
poisoned  water  had  spread,  on  a  day  when  the  water  was  so 
calm  that  I  could  see  the  minutest  objects  on  the  bottom.  Its 
whole  eastern  half  was  one  vast  field  c»f  blackened  and  lifeless 
coral  stems,  and  of  the  vacant  and  lustreless  shells  of  giant 
clams  and  other  Mollusca,  paralysed  and  killed  in  all  stages 
of  expansion.  Everywhere  both  shells  and  coral  were  deeply 
corroded,  the  coral  especially  being  in  many  places  worn  down 
to  the  solid  base.  Since  the  catastrophe,  there  had  been,  till 
almost  the  date  of  my  visit,  no  sign  of  life  in  that  portion  of 
the  lagoon ;  I  saw  very  few  fishes,  and  only  here  and  there 
a  new  branch  of  Madrepora  and  Porites.  I  found  only  one 
tridacna  alive  (its  three  years'  growth  being  12  inches  in 
length,  r.nd  13  in  breadth). 

That  an  earthquake  certainly  occurred  on  this  reef,  as 
recorded  by  Mr.  Darwin,  two  years  before  the  visit  of  the 
Beagle,  is  an  interesting  fact.  That  an  earthquake  took  place 
in  1876,  cannot,  I  think,  judging  from  the  tidal  wave,  be 
doubted,  although  no  tremor  was  detected  by  any  one  on  the 
island — scarcely  to  be  wondered  at  during  the  war  of  the 
elements.  The  wave,  as  well  as  the  darkened  water  which 
issued,  doubtless  from  a  submarine  rent,  was  almost  certainly 
the  result  of  volcanic  disturbance  in  the  close  vicinity  of  the 
atoll.  Mr.  Darwin  has  described  a  dead  field  of  coral  observed 
by  him,  in  the  upper  and  south-east  part,  and  has  accounted 
for  it  by  assuming,  from  information  given  him  by  Mr.  Leisk, 
that  S.E.  island  had  been  at  one  time  divided  into  several 
islets  by  channels,  whose  closing  up  had  prevented  the  water 
from  rising  so  high  in  the  lagoon  as  formerly;  and  that, 
therefore,  the  corals,  which  had  attained  their  utmost  possible 
limit  of  upward  growth,  must  have  been  killed  by  occasional 
exposure  to  the  sun. 


7.V   THE   COCOS'KEELINO   ISLANDS.  23 

I  examined  the  chart  made  by  Ross  in  1825,  ten  years 
before  Mr.  Darwin's  visit,  but  it  exhibited  no  peieeptible 
difference  in  the  external  configuration  of  the  various  islets.. 
The  soundings  in  the  lagoon,  however,  showed  a  greater 
continuous  depth  at  that  time,  and  I  am  told  that  his  vessel 
sailed,  on  her  first  coming,  far  up  the  bay,  and  anchored 
where  now  no  ship  can  nearly  approach.  It  is  more  probable 
that  the  explanation  of  this  dead  field  lies  in  the  supposition 
that  a  like  phenomenon  to  that  just  narrated  accompanied  the 
earthquake  of  1834.  Beyond  the  boundary  affected  by  the 
dark  water,  the  coral  was  unharmed,  and  growing  vigorously 
in  thick  bosses,  (called  "  patches  "  by  Mr.  Darwin,)  composed 
chiefly  of  Madrepora  and  FociUopora,  between  whicli  were 
basins  of  no  great  diameter,  but  reaching  to  a  depth  of  some 
eight  or  ten  fathoms,  which  were  marvellous  natural  aquaria 
planted  round  with  anemones,  tesselated  in  blue  and  green 
designs  with  Fungise  and  brain-corals.  But  why  no  other 
species  should  grow  in  these  deep  clear  pits,  and  why  the 
various  corals  forming  the  bosses — which  are  chiefly  of 
Echinopora  lamellosa — do  not  stretch  out  their  arms  into 
and  obliterate  them,  seems  difticult  to  understand. 

In  the  small  boat  channel  close  to  the  settlement,  one  of  the 
few  poisoned  places  in  which  the  coral  had  begun  to  grow- 
vigorously  since  187G,  I  dislodged  with  my  hand  several 
living  bunches  from  the  chalky  bottom  on  which  they 
were  growing.  Their  average  diameter  across  the  top  was 
12  inches,  and  their  height  from  the  centre  to  the  tip  of 
the  branches  6^  inches.  This  channel  was  thoroughly 
cleaned  out  down  to  the  white  mud  on  the  20th  May,  1878, 
and  as  my  measurements  were  made  on  the  30th  January, 
1879,  the  age  of  these  bunches  was  under  eight  and  a  half 
months. 

1  could  not  help  being  struck  by  the  number  of  brilliantly 
hued  fishes  in  the  deep  pools  of  the  lagoon.  Banded  and 
spotted  ^lurosnoids  (species  of  Lsiuranus  and  Opisnrus)  glided 
about  in  snake-like  fashion  ;  in  sea-weed  or  hydroid-covered 
crevices  motionless  Antennarii  lay  in  wait,  but  it  required  a 
sharp  eye  to  distinguish  their  quaintly  adorned  and  mimicking 
bodies  from  the  excrescences  of  their  retreat.  Other  singular 
denizens  of  the  lagoon  are  the  Crayracions,  which  look  like 


24  A   NATURALIST  'S    WANDERINGS 

round  hedgehogs  floating  (as  they  do  often)  on  the  surface  of 
the  water ;  their  jaws  are  armed  with  formidable  solid  teeth  to 
enable  them  to  feed  on  the  coral ;  and  the  File-fishes,  painted 
with  coerulean  bands  and  harnessed  with  blue  bridle-lines, 
which  not  only  feed  on  the  coral,  but  bore  their  way  through 
the  shells  of  3Iollusca  to  extract  the  succulent  morsels  within. 
Their  bodies  terminate  in  a  most  convenient-looking  tail,  as 
if  made  purposely  to  handle  them  by,  and  I  could  not  help 
feeling  maliciously  imposed  on  when  I  did  so,  by  having 
very  precipitately  to  drop  a  fine  specimen  I  was  lifting  for 
examination,  on  the  sharp  hidden  spines,  with  which  that 
organ  is  set,  running  into  my  hand  like  a  series  of  lances. 
One  of  the  commonest  genera  of  fishes  in  the  tropical  seas 
of  the  Atlantic,  Australian  and  Indo-Pacific  regions  is  the 
Chsetodon,  which  is  particularly  attractive  on  account  of  the 
form  and  the  singular  brilliance  of  the  coloration  of  its  species. 
The  heaps  of  fish  that  my  boys,  a  couple  of  urchins  not  more 
than  four  years  of  age,  used,  by  alternately  harpooning  and 
diving  after  them  to  bring  in,  formed  when  piled  on  the  white 
background  of  the  coral  shore,  a  bright  picture  indeed  from 
the  wonderful  variety  of  their  colours — emerald-green,  cobalt- 
blue,  rich  orange,  and  even  scarlet. 

Most  of  the  lagoon  fishes  are  good  for  food  ;  but  there 
is  a  species  of  Scarus  which  requires  to  be  prepared  for  the 
table  with  very  great  care,  for  should  the  gall-bladder  be 
ruptured,  and  its  contents  escape  into  the  body-cavity,  the 
flesh  of  the  fish  becomes  quite  poisoned.  Several  fatal  cases 
had  occurred  in  the  settlement,  especially  among  children, 
who  almost  immediately  after  partaking  of  the  flesh  were 
seized  with  giddiness  and  stupor,  followed  by  death,  with  a 
dropsical  state  of  the  body,  within  two  or  three  hours.  The 
effect  of  the  application  of  the  bile  externally  produced  simply 
a  bad  fester.  A  woman  while  cleaning  such  a  fish  by  the  shore, 
on  one  occasion  threw  out  the  entrails  on  the  water,  when  a 
Frigate-bird  {Tacliy petes  minor)  which  had  been  hovering  over 
her,  swooping  down  picked  up  the  tempting  morsel ;  but  it 
had  risen  only  some  thirty  feet  in  the  air,  when  it  fell  back  on 
the  water  lifeless.  The  sharks,  the  albacore  {Thi/nnus  termo) 
and  the  baracuta  are  the  pirates  of  the  lagoon,  and  the  chief 
agents  in  restraining  its  over-population. 


7.Y   TUE   COCOS-KEELING   ISLANDS.  25 

Among  the  branches  of  the  ginger-coral,  a  great  variety  of 
Crustacea  are  to  be  seen  creeping  about,  and  in  all  the  crevices 
Mollusca  of  every  family,  most  conspicuous  among  them  being 
the  giant  clams  of  the  genus  Tridacnu,  whose  mantle  edged  with 
turquoise  beads  forms  a  beautiful  object  to  look  down  on ;  but 
one  must  shudder  for  the  diver  who  should  accidentally  thrust 
his  head  or  a  limb  into  its  gape,  which  the  slightest  touch 
causes  to  close  with  a  snap. 

Nor  was  the  interest  of  the  atoll  confined  to  its  surf-beaten 
barrier  and  its  teeming  lagoon  ;  every  foot  of  the  surface  of  the 
land,  every  atom  of  its  substance,  every  stem  of  the  vegetation 
that  covered  it,  and  each  separate  existence  that  crept  or 
winged  itself  on  and  around  it,  by  its  very  presence  in  this 
mid-ocean  speck,  was  charged  with  a  wondrous  tale  of  strange 
vicissitudes  and  wanderings.  By  the  inner  margins  of  some 
of  the  islands  (as  will  be  seen  on  looking  at  the  map),  and 
forming  lagoonlets  in  some  of  them,  there  are  soft  limy  mud- 
flats, which  are  gradually  becoming  land,  mainly  by  slow- 
elevation  and  by  crustacean  agency. 

One  of  the  laro-cst  of  these  is  in  West  Island.  Its  la2:oon- 
ward  portion,  near  the  entrance  conduit,  which  is  submerged 
at  high  water,  is  tenanted  by  two,  if  not  three,  species  of 
crab  {Gelasimus  voccais,  tetragonon,  and  annulipes).  They  live 
in  narrow  corkscrew  burrows,  round  the  top  of  which  there 
is  always  a  little  mound  just  such  as  is  seen  about  an  earth- 
worm's ;  and  indeed  they  are  most  perfect  worm  substitutes. 
I  counted  one  hundred  and  twenty  of  their  holes  in  an  area 
only  two  feet  square  ;  and  as  there  were  many  square  acres  in 
the  ground  of  which  I  speak,  some  idea  of  the  number  of  this 
busy  army  may  be  obtained.  They  were  incessantly  active 
during  the  recess  of  the  tide  and  even  during  high  water, 
which  is  generally  perfectly  still,  in  carrying  down  twigs  of 
trees  or  fucus  leaves,  scraps  of  cocoanut  shell,  and  seeds, 
laying  the  foundation  of  the  future  land. 

On  placing  the  foot  on  the  region  occupied  by  them,  one 
perceives  an  undulation  of  the  surface  followed,  over  a  circular 
area,  by  a  surprising  change  of  the  pure  white  ground  into  a 
warm  ])ink  colour,  which  for  the  moment  the  stranger  puts  down 
to  some  aifection  of  his  eyes  from  the  reflection  of  the  light. 
lie  soon  perceives  that  this  movement  is  caused  by  the  siraul- 


26  A   NATURALIST'S   WANDERINGS 

taneous  stampede  of  the  dense  crowd  of  the  peopled  shore  into 
their  dwellings,  just  within  the  door  of  which  they  halt,  with 
the  larger  of  their  two  pincer-claws,  which  is  of  a  rich  pink 
colour,  effectually  barring  the  entrance  except  where  one 
watchful  stalked  eye  is  thrust  out  to  take  an  inquiring  look 
if  the  alarm  is  real.  As  one  advances  the  jnnk  areas  again 
cliange  into  white,  as  the  Crustaceans  withdraw  into  their  sub- 
terranean fastnesses.  On  traversing  a  broad  field  occupied  by 
these  crabs,  the  constant  undulations  and  change  of  colours, 
produce  a  curious  dazzling  effect  on  the  eyes. 

The  land  between  tide-marks  is  occupied  by  another  turret- 
eyed  vigilant  pioneer  of  vegetable  occupation  against  marine 
possession,  which  extends  its  operations  further  landward  than 
the  Gelastmus,  and  where  the  ground  is  more  or  less  wet.  This 
is  a  species  of  Macrophthahnus  whose  colour  protects  it  from 
general  observation  till  it  starts  to  run.  One-third  of  its  time 
is  spent  under  water,  and  two-thirds  in  energetic  mining  opera- 
tions on  land.  It  is  to  be  seen  constantly  scattering  around  it, 
with  a  nervous  jerk,  the  arm-fulls  of  sand  which,  held  between 
its  body  and  clawed  foot,  it  has  dragged  up  from  below  out  of 
the  burrows  into  which  it  carries  all  sorts  of  vegetable  debris. 
On  the  slightest  sound  it  scampers  off  to  take  refuge  in  the 
water,  and  is  at  once  noticeable  by  its  mobile  stalked  eyes  curi- 
ously pricked  up  high  over  its  body.  These  eye-stalks  are 
conical  cylinders  set  round,  except  on  the  narrow  area  along 
which  they  are  applied  to  each  other  in  the  mid-lino  of  the 
body,  with  facets  which  really  form  perfect  little  watch-towers 
commanding  an  unobstructed  outlook  to  all  points  of  the 
compass. 

The  area  along  the  dry  margin  of  the  land  is  occupied 
by  a  third — a  short-eyed — species  of  crab  {Ocijpoda),  whose 
labours  seem  to  tell  more  than  those  of  the  otliers.  Besides 
burying  smaller  particles  of  vegetable  debris,  it  lowers  down 
large  branches  of  trees,  and  even  cocoa-nuts,  by  scooping  away 
the  soil  below  them,  and  carries  down  also  the  newly  fallen  seeds 
of  the  iron-wood  tree  {Cordia).  Both  these  trees,  which  along 
with  a  rough  sort  of  grass  {Lepturiis  repens)  and  the  hard- 
wooded  Femphis  acidula  lead  the  van  of  vegetable  occupation 
of  lands  wrested  from  the  sea,  are  in  tliis  way  aided  in  their 
forward  march.     As  soon,  however,  as  its  busy  labours  have 


7.Y   THE   COCOS-KEELING   ISLANDS.  27 

changed  the  white  calcareous  fore-shore  into  a  dark  vegetable 
mould,  its  occupation  seems  gone,  and  it  retires  in  quest  of 
new  land  to  conquer. 

Further  landward  the  soil  is  tilled  and  turned  up  to  the  sun 
and  rain  by  a  species  of  Gecarcinus,  which  lives  almost  entirely 
in  the  dry  land,  visiting  the  sea  only  in  times  of  great  drought. 
xV  still  more  eftective  tiller  is  the  great  cocoa-nut  crab  [Birgus 
latro),  one  of  the  largest  of  shore  Crustacea.  It  is  chiefly  noc- 
turnal in  its  habits,  and  is  not  so  often  seen  as  the  others.  It 
makes  in  the  ground  deep  tunnels,  larger  than  rabbit  burrows, 
lined  for  warmth  (?)  with  cocoa-nut  fibre.  It  has  a  habit  of 
climbing  the  cocoa-nut  palms,  but  whether  to  take  the  air  or 
for  temporary  lodging  is  doubtful ;  it  does  not  rob  the  trees, 
however,  as  has  been  charged  against  it,  since  it  feeds  only  on 
fruits  that  have  fallen.  One  of  its  pincer- claws  is  developed 
into  an  organ  of  extraordinary  power,  capable,  when  the  creature 
is  enraged,  of  breaking  a  cocoa-nut  shell  or  a  man's  limb.  1  he 
inner  edges  of  the  claw  are  armed  with  a  series  of  white 
enamelled  denticulations  whose  resemblance  to  teeth  is 
singularly  close,  even  to  the  irregular  scarlet  line  below  them 
which  might  pass  for  gums.  The  Birgus  feeds  on  the  nuts 
almost  exclusively,  using  its  great  claw  to  denude  the  fruit  of 
the  husk  surrounding  it,  and  to  get  at  the  eye  of  the  nut,  whicli 
it  has  learned  is  the  only  easy  gateway  to  the  interior. 

Of  the  three  eye-spots  seen  at  the  end  of  a  cocoa-nut  only 
one  permits  an  easy  entrance.  Tiie  Binjiis  does  not  waste  its 
energies  in  denuding  the  whole  nut,  and  it  never  denudes  the 
wrong  end.  Having  pierced  the  proper  eye  with  one  of  its 
spindle  ambulatory  legs,  it  rotates  the  nut  round  it  till  the 
orifice  is  large  enough  to  permit  the  insertion  of  its  great  claw 
to  break  up  the  shell  and  triturate  its  contents,  whoso  particles 
it  then  carries  to  its  mouth  by  means  of  its  other  and  smaller 
cheliferous  foot. 

Frcmi  this  nutritious  diet  it  accumulates  beneath  its  tail 
a  store  of  fat,  which  dissolves  by  heat  into  a  rich  yellow  oil,  of 
which  a  large  specimen  will  often  yield  as  much  as  two  pints. 
Thickened  in  the  sun,  it  forms  an  excellent  substitute  for 
butter  in  all  its  uses.  I  discovered  it  to  be  a  valuable  pre- 
serving lubricant  for  guns  and  steel  instruments  ;  and  only 
when  a  small  bottle  of  it,  which  I  had  had  for  two  years,  was 


28  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

iinished,  did  I  fully  realise  what  a  precious  anti-corrosive  in 
these  humid  regions  I  had  lost. 

The  Birgus,  though  belonging  to  a  water-living  family, 
spends  the  greater  part  of  its  time  on  the  land,  and  Professor 
Semper*  has  discovered  that,  following  on  its  change  of  habit, 
a  portion  of  the  gill-cavities  of  this  singular  crustacean  have 
become  modified  into  an  organ  for  breathing  air — "  into  a  true 
lung,"  in  fact. 

Not  less  interesting  than  the  marine,  was  the  terrestrial  life 
of  these  lonely  isles.  Mr.  Darwin's  famous  visit  was  made 
about  eleven  years  after  their  colonisation.  More  than  half  a 
century  more  had  elapsed  till  I  landed  there.  In  1836  Mr. 
Darwin  gathered  some  twenty-two  species  of  flowering  plants. 
On  comparing  the  list  (at  the  end  of  this  Part)  of  the  plants 
collected  or  identified  on  the  atoll  by  me  with  Professor  Hens- 
low's  of  those  collected  by  Mr.  Darwin,  it  will  be  observed  that 
considerable  additions  have  been  made  to  its  flora.  It  is  not 
improbable,  however,  that  a  few  of  those  not  enumerated  by 
Professor  Henslow  may  have  been  overlooked  by  Darwin  during 
the  occupied  days  of  the  Beagle  s  short  stay.  Some  are  of  more 
recent  introduction,  and  are  due  with  little  doubt  to  the 
accidents  of  human  inter-communication,  while  others  have 
been  intentionally  introduced.  Direct  intercourse  has  princi- 
pally been  with  Java,  Mauritius,  and  India,  and  occasionally 
with  Australia,  by  means  of  horse-laden  vessels  calling  for 
water.  The  greater  part  of  the  indigenous  vegetation  consists, 
as  Mr.  Darwin  has  pointed  out,  of  plants  common  to  Australia 
and  Timor  ;  and  it  is  certainly  these  we  should  most  expect  to 
find  here,  as  the  ocean  currents  which  wash  the  shores  of  the 
atoll  by  running  westward  from  Australian  seas,  and  sweeping 
round  north-eastward  in  the  Indian  Ocean  towards  Sumatra 
and  Java,  bring  it  nearer  to  Australia  and  the  eastern  part  of 
the  Archipelago  than  to  its  geographically  closer  neighbours. 
Thus  by  slow  degrees  and  after  many  a  failure  have  the  ocean 
streams  succeeded  in  clothing  this  lone  speck  with  verdure. 

When  first  occupied  the  islands  were  covered  abundantly 
with  iron-wood  {Cordia)  and  Pemphis  acidula,  as  well  as  cocoa 
palms.     Accidental   fires,   however,  both   on   North   Keeling 

*   Cf. '  The  Natural  Conditions  of  Existence  as  the)-  affect  Animal  Life,'  by 
Karl  Semper.     International  Series  ;  p.  193.     Kegau  Paul  &  Co.     1881. 


7.V   THE   COCOS-KEELING   ISLANDS.  29 

(fifteen  miles  distant)  and  on  the  south  islands,  destroyed  nearly 
all  the  iron-wood  forests,  the  most  valuable  timber  the  colonists 
possessed.  This  tree  grows  often  with  a  most  curious  arching 
habit,  and  as  the  name  they  have  given  it  indicates,  its  timber 
is  very  durable,  I  saw  a  trunk  on  one  of  the  islets  which  after  an 
exposure  of  over  forty  years  was  in  every  part  perfectly  sound ; 
and  a  beam  whose  natural  curve  fitted  without  artificial  bend- 
ino;  the  double  arch  of  the  ribs  of  a  schooner  of  200  tons  buildino: 
on  the  stocks  of  the  island.  The  vegetation  of  the  islands  is 
now  almost  entirely  cocoa-nut  trees. 

The  history  of  this  commonest  member  of  its  family  might 
occupy  a  long  and  interesting  chapter,  if  space  permitted. 
Few,  perhaps,  know  it  better  than  Mr.  Ross  ;  and  while  enjoy- 
ing the  grateful  shade  and  the  delicious  beverage  that  its 
fruits  supply,  I  passed  many  a  pleasant  half  hour  in  listening 
to  his  accounts  of  its  growth  and  habits.  As  a  rule  it  is  a 
branchless  palm,  but  on  West  Island  he  took  me  to  see  its  rare 
occurrence  as  a  branching  tree,  which,  instead  of  fruiting  spikes, 
invariably  produccsd  persistent  branches  crowned  with  a  bunch 
of  leaves — adding  to  the  beauty  of  the  already  graceful  j)alm. 

Most  nuts,  as  is  well  known,  contain,  on  opening  them,  only 
one  ovary  cavity,  but,  as  the  three  eye-spots  indicate,  all  nuts 
ought  to  have,  were  they  not  naturally  suppressed,  three  of  these. 
Many  of  the  Keeling  palms  produce  not  only  their  full  com- 
plement of  three  compartments,  but,  what  is  more  surprising, 
some  have  as  many  as  eight  and  even  fourteen.  Such  nuts 
produce  palms  with  a  common  root,  but  with  as  many  stems  as 
they  have  cells.  Under  favourable  conditions  the  cocoa-nut 
can  produce  its  first  fruit  within  four  years  from  the  fall  of 
the  seed  nut  from  its  parent  tree,  while  it  can  go  on  for  an 
unknown  period  throwing  out  every  month  a  new  fruit  spike 
bearing  from  seven  to  fourteen  nuts,  which  require  from  eight 
to  thirteen  months  to  ripen. 

The  i)ahns  in  tiie  centre  of  the  islets  grow  to  a  greater  height 
— some  of  them  to  120  feet, — on  account  of  the  deeper  soil  and 
more  abundant  supply  of  fresh  water,  than  those  along  the 
shores,  but  the  oil-producing  capacity  of  their  fruit  is.  not, 
however,  greater.  j\Iore  oil  is  obtained  from  nuts  which  have 
formed  during  the  early  part,  and  ripened  during  tlic  later 
months  of  the  year.  Mr.  Koss  assured  me  that  during  every 
4 


00  A   NATURALIST'S   WANDERINGS 

full  moon,  many  of  the  fruits  exposed  fully  to  its  rays 
are  blighted,  the  pulp  becoming  puckered  and  shrunk.  Sun- 
stroke, he  said,  was  also  very  common  ;  but  in  this  case  the 
affected  nut  shrivels  up,  and  when  it  is  opened  only  a  withered 
embryo  is  found  inside. 

I  searched  for  the  two  trees  seen,  but  not  obtained  by  Mr. 
Darwin,  as  mentioned  in  his  '  Voyage.'  Of  the  one  "  of  great 
height  on  West  Island  "  I  would  have  secured  specimens  but 
for  an  unfortunate  discharge  by  a  twig  of  Mr.  Ross's  gun, 
resulting  in  a  severe  and  painful  wound  to  his  hand  (happily 
not  more  serious  than  a  bad  flesh  wound),  which  necessitated 
our  return  home,  before  we  had  succeeded.  As  it  was  the  last 
occasion  I  could  visit  the  islet,  I  was  unable  certainly  to  iden- 
tify the  tree,  although  from  the  seeds  which  I  obtained,  I  have 
little  doubt  that  it  is  a  species  of  Pisom'a  (probably  P.  inermis) 
which  is  found  in  the  Australian  and  Pacific  islands.  Its 
seeds  are  spiny  and  glutinous,  and,  by  adhering  in  great 
numbers  to  their  feathers,  often  prove  fatal  to  the  herons  that 
nest  in  its  summit.  As  many  sea-fowl  have  almost  a  cosmo- 
politan distribution,  it  is  easy  to  perceive  how  widely  this  tree 
might  be  disseminated  by  the  birds  that  roost  on  it. 

Mr.  Darwin  records  that  he  took  pains  to  collect  every  kind 
of  insect  he  saw.  Exclusive  of  spiders,  which  were  numerous, 
thirteen  species  were  found  by  him.  A  list  of  all  those  col- 
lected or  seen  by  me  would  far  outrun  Mr.  Darwin's,  showing 
that  by  some  means  or  other  species  are  still  finding  their  way 
to  this  distant  spot.  Unfortunately,  this  collection  was  destroyed 
on  my  way  back  to  Java,  and  cannot  be  now  named  ;  but  few,  if 
any,  of  the  species  were  referable  to  Australian,  Timorese  or 
East  Archipelago  forms,  so  that  the  origin  of  the  fauna  is 
evidently  different  from  that  of  the  flora  of  the  atoll,  and  is 
doubtless  due  to  many  chance  passengers,  that  half  a  century  of 
the  coming  and  going  of  ships  has  brought  as  stowaways  and 
landed  unknowinglv  ;  now  an  adherinjr  cluster  of  eofffs,  now  a 
gravid  female,  or  perchance  a  mated  couple.  Erom  the  testi- 
mony of  Mr.  Ross,  whom  I  have  found  a  most  accurate  observer, 
the  cyclones  of  1863  and  of  1876  added,  if  not  new  species,  at 
least  a  host  of  new  individuals  to  the  Keeling  fauna. 

Among  CoJeoptera  Mr.  Darwin  mentions  only  one  small 
Elater ;  while  I  observed  hosts  of  small  Melolonthidm  (genus 


7.V  THE   COCOS-KEELING   ISLANDS.  31 

Serica)  and  Rutelidm  (genus  Anomala),  whose  presence,  I  am 
told,  had  been  noted  in  abundance  for  only  a  few  years  previons 
to  my  visit.  I  saw  them  frequenting  almost  every  open  flower, 
towards  which  they  were  performing  the  kind  fertilising  office 
usually  done  by  bees,  whose  place  they  seemed  to  take.  Of 
Ortlioptera,  besides  the  ubiquitous  cockroach  {Blatta  orientalis), 
there  were  a  few  Acrididae,  and  the  common  locust,  which 
was  found  in  increased  numbers  after  the  cyclone.  The 
Hemiptera  were  represented  by  several  species. 

Of  Neuroptera,  white  ants  had  spread  their  baneful  hordes  to 
most  of  the  islands;  whWeClirysopa  /n?J0^rtfa  and  dragon-flies  were 
very  plentiful.  Immediately  after  the  cyclone  the  surftice  of  the 
water  was  observed  to  be  densely  strewn  with  broken  bodies  of 
the  latter,  as  if,  in  its  course,  the  wind  had  encountered  a  cloud 
of  them,  and  scattered  their  mangled  remains  as  it  travelled. 
I  did  not  succeed  in  collecting  any  true  Hymenoptera,  but  ants 
were  abundant ;  a  minute  Fire-ant  (Camponotus),  the  common 
Javan  long-legged  venomless  species,  and  several  black  sorts 
had  become  domiciled  on  the  islands.  Every  trading  vessel  in 
the  tropics  has  its  formicine  fauna,  and  cannot  help  acting  as  a 
transporter  of  all  sorts  of  ants  from  one  region  of  it  to  another. 
Lepidoptera  had  perhaps  increased  more  than  any  other  family. 
The  Diopoea,  so  common  in  Java  among  the  sensitive  Mimosa, 
and  a  minute  Plume-moth  sheltering  among  the  red-wood  {Pern- 
phis  acidula),  and  the  Scievola,  were  perhaps  the  most  common  ; 
the  large  Atlas-moth  had  become  a  settled  resident  here,  as 
well  as  several  moderately  large  diurnal  species  with  a  habit 
of  pitching  on  the  warm,  bare  ground  and  frequenting  the 
Gudavda  and  the  Aschjn'as  cuirassavica.  Among  several  sorts 
of  flies,  an  Asihis,  much  like  the  large  carnivorous  fly  common 
in  South  Europe,  was  most  conspicuous. 

Tlie  Mammalian  fauna  of  the  Keelings  was  an  entirely 
introduced  one.  A  herd  of  deer  on  Horsburgh  Island,  was  in- 
teresting as  being  a  cross  between  tlie  Javan  Eusa  (Cerviis  hip- 
jxdctjyhiis)  and  the  darker  Sumutran  species  (Cervus  eqiiinu>i). 
Pigs  ran  semi-wild,  and  throve  remarkably  well  on  the  broken 
scraps  of  cocoa-nuts  everywhere  lying  about  in  the  woods. 
Australian  sheep,  which  fed  on  tlie  PortnJaca  oleracea,  on 
a  species  of  grass,  and  on  the  tubers  of  an  aroid  which  they 
scraped  up,  did  not  seem  to  suffer  much  from  the  novel  maritime 


82  A   NATUBALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

conditions  under  which  they  found  themselves.  The  settlers 
would  be  rendered  supremely  happy  if  such  conditions  would 
by  any  means  prove  prejudicial  to  the  rats — the  sole  living 
creature  unwelcome  to  their  island  home, — whose  fecundity  is 
becoming  appalling,  for  every  vessel  that  calls  serves  to  infuse 
only  fresh  blood  and  vigour  into  the  race. 

Occasionally  flying  foxes  {Pteropus)  reach  the  atoll,  but 
hitherto  in  too  exhausted  a  state  to  survive.  Once  a  pair 
arrived  together;  but  both,  unfortunately,  soon  died.  It  is 
not  improbable  that  some  day,  through  the  favourable  cir- 
cumstance of  an  unusually  strong  and  healthy  pair  shaping 
their  course  Keeling-wards,  they  may  yet  survive  the  arduous 
journey,  and  the  atoll  find  them  some  morning  added  to  its 
fauna.  What  has  only  just  failed  here,  has  doubtless  suc- 
ceeded in  other  oceanic  islands,  with  different  volant  species. 

Bird  life  was  limited,  but  very  interesting.  Graceful 
Noddies  {Anou&  sfolidiis)  and  Gannets  (Su^a  j^^^c^ii^'^^)  were 
in  thousands ;  and  I  had  the  satisfaction  of  watching  what  has 
been  over  and  over  described,  but  was  new  to  me,  how  their 
industrious  habits  are  taken  advantage  of  by  the  swift-winged 
Frigate-birds.  Hiding  in  the  lee  of  the  cocoa-nut  trees,  the 
Tachypetes  would  sally  out  on  the  successful  fishers  returning 
in  the  evening,  and  j)erpetrate  a  vigorous  assault  on  them 
till  they  disgorged  for  their  behoof  at  least  a  share  of  their 
supper,  which  they  caught  in  mid-air  as  it  fell.  Such  feelings 
of  reprobation  as  I  ought  to  have  felt  at  their  conduct  was,  I 
fear,  not  very  deep  ;  for  the  swoop  after  the  falling  spoil  was  so 
elegant  an  evolution,,  that, I  confess,!  always  hoped  that  the  poor 
Noddy  would  give  up  as  heavy  a  morsel  as  possible,  in  order  to 
necessitate  a  correspondingly  eager  dive  after  it.  Refractory 
Gannets  were  often  seized  by  the  tail  by  the  Frigate-birds,  and 
treated  to-  a  shake  that  rarely  failed  of  successful  results. 
Fierce  foes  as  they  were  in  the  air,  on  terra  firma  they  roosted 
near  each  other  like  the  best  of  friends.  They  breed  only  on 
North  Keeling,  and  during  that  season  the  bare  skin  of  the 
throat  is  of  a  very  rich  scarlet  colour.  They  are  powerful 
fliers,  and  can  head  against  even  a  gale  by  taking  in  a  reef  in 
their  long  wings,  so  as  to  expose  only  the  greater  quills  to  its 
force. 

The  Tachypetes  minor  used  to  nest  in  the  bushes  of  Femphis 


IX   THE   CO  COS-KEELING   ISLANDS.  33 

aciduJa  on  the  South  Keeling  group ;  but  since  the  settle- 
ment, constant  interruption  from  the  nut-gatherers  has  driven 
it  to  breed  in  North  Keeling.  When  brought  up  from  the 
nest  in  a  state  of  semi-captivity,  tliey  can  be  trained  to  aid  in 
the  capture  of  their  fellows,  wliich  are  much  used  as  food  by 
the  settlers. 

A  hunter  wishing  to  shoot  a  few  of  these  birds,  throws  out 
within  gunshot  on  the  surface  of  the  water  a  piece  of  attractive 
bait,  which  the  tame  Frigate-bird  swoops  down,  almost  osten- 
tatiously, time  after  time,  to  pick  up.  Several  of  its  hungry 
brethren,  always  hanging  about,  soon  make  their  appearance 
to  struggle  for  a  share ;  after  two  or  three  gyrations,  the  eager 
stranger  swoops  down  for  the  tempting  morsel,  the  decoy 
soars  out  of  reach,  while  his  unfortunate  dupe  falls  a  victim. 
If  the  others  take  flight,  the  same  tactics  will  be  followed 
again  and  again  by  the  decoy,  who  exhibits  no  alarm  at  the 
report  of  the  gun  or  the  death  throes  of  its  companions. 

The  white,  satin-feathered  Tropic-bird  (^Phaeton  candidus) 
was  far  from  uncommon  ;  but  being  a  very  liigh  flier  it  was 
difficult  to  secure  specimens  of  it.  I  was  happy,  nevertheless, 
to  be  able  to  examine  in  the  flesh  one,  at  least,  of  these 
beautiful  creatures.  It  must  possess  wonderfully  acute  powers 
of  sight,  for  when  sailing  along  at  a  great  elevation,  I  have 
seen  it  suddenly  descend  like  an  arrow,  disappear  below  the 
surface  of  the  sea,  and  in  a  few  moments  soar  up  with  its  prey 
in  its  mouth. 

On  West  Island  two  species  of  Heron  (Herodias  nigripes,  and 
Deiniegrdta  sacra)  nested  on  the  high  Pisonia  trees,  and,  as  I 
have  said  above,  often  died  from  the  number  of  the  glutinous 
seeds  which  clogged  their  feathers.  The  Australian  Night- 
heron  (Nycticorax  caledonicus)  builds  on  the  same  trees.  This 
is  the  first  record  of  its  occurrence  so  far  to  the  west,  and 
ranging,  as  it  does,  from  New  Caledonia  through  the  Moluc- 
ctis  and  Timor,  some  ancestor  of  its  own  may,  perchance, 
have  carried  out  thence  the  seeds  of  the  trees  on  which  it  now 
builds,  just  as  its  own  young  may  be  now  distributing  them 
to  distant  isles. 

The  most  engaging  of  all  the  birds  was  our  little  pilot,  tho 
])ure  wliite  Tern  {Gijgis  Candida)  so  chastely  spoken  of  by  3[r. 
Darwin.     As  the  swallow  is  to  us,  such  a  pet  is  this  bird  to 


34  A  NATURALIST'S   WANDERINGS 


the  settlers.  It  chooses  a  strange  place  to  set  its  nest  in,  if 
one  may  so  speak  of  its  brooding  place.  Its  solitary  e^g  is 
deposited  on  the  leaf  of  a  young  cocoa-nut  palm,  at  the  time 
when  the  leaf  has  rotated  from  its  vertical  position  to  one 
nearly  at  right  angles  to  the  stem.  The  egg  is  laid  in  the 
narrow  angular  gape  between  two  leaflets  on  the  summit  of  the 
arch  of  the  leaf,  where  it  rests  securely,  without  a  scrap  of  nest, 
in  what  one  would  think  the  most  unsafe  position  possible,  yet 
defying  the  heaving  and  twisting  of  the  leaves  in  the  strongest 
winds.  The  leaf,  as  in  all  palms,  goes  on  drooping  further  and 
further  till  it  falls ;  and  among  the  settlers  it  is  a  subject  of 
keen  betting,  when  they  see  a  Tern  sitting  on  an  ominously 
withered  leaf,  whether  the  young  bird  will  be  hatched  or  not 
before  the  leaf  falls.  The  result  I  am  told  has  always  been  in 
favour  of  the  bird  ;  if  the  leaf  fall  in  the  afternoon,  the  Tern 
will  have  escaped  from  the  egg  in  the  morning. 

Not  infrequently  the  "  Tjoo-Tjooit  "  lays  its  egg  on  a  ledge 
ill  the  work-sheds  of  the  island,  but  it  never  builds  a  nest. 
The  young  one  is  fed  incessantly  by  the  parents  with  fishes, 
which  are  brought  in  mouthfuls  of  generally  six  at  a  time, 
arranged  alternately  head  and  tail.  The  old  birds  often  feed 
on  the  Papaya  fruit,  hovering  on  their  wings  all  the  while  like 
honeysuckers  at  a  flower.  This  beautiful  bird  is  to  be  found 
only  on  the  lone  islands  of  the  great  oceans. 

Besides  the  little  Philippine  Pail  (Ballus  J^)/i^7^2>pens/s),  a 
resident  species  often  employed  by  the  colonists  to  hatch  out 
their  domestic  fowls,  which  they  do  with  care,  a  species  of  Snipe 
and  a  Teal  visit  the  islands  every  February  and  March  in  large 
numbers,  where  they  find  a  grateful  rest  in  that  annual  voyage  — 
whence  and  whither  I  could  not  ascertain — that  the  changing 
seasons,  resistlessly  impel  them  to.  Jungle  fowl,  introduced 
from  Java,  were  breeding  and  throve  well ;  and  lastly,  I  ob- 
tained some  nests  of  the  Yellow  Weaver-bird  (Ploceus  lujpox- 
anthus.)  Strange  to  say,  it  also  comes  often  across  the  sea  (most 
probably  from  Java)  to  nest  on  this  lone  island.  Mr.  Eoss  in- 
formed me  that  it  builds  more  frequently  on  North  Keeling ; 
neither  parents  nor  brood,  however,  take  up  their  residence, 
but  wend  their  way  back  whence  they  came,  leaving  their 
elegant  flask-shaped  nests  on  the  branches  of  the  trees  to 
intimate  that  they  have  come  and  gone. 


Harper  flcBrothera  KewYorki 


7.V  TEE   COCOS-KEELING   ISLANDS.  35 


CHAPTER  III. 

SOJOURN    IN    THE    COCOS-KEELIXG   ISLANDS — continued. 

Coral  reef  formation — Observations  on  the  elevation  or  subsidence  of  the 
Keeling  atoll. 

As  the  Keeling  atoll  was  the  reef  most  carefully  examined  and 
described  by  Mr.  Darwin,  and  that  with  which,  in  propounding 
his  famous  theory  of  coral  reefs,  he  has  compared  the  others  he 
describes,  I  felt  specially  pleased  at  being  able  to  go  over 
his  own  ground  with  his  book  in  my  hand,  and  gain  a  clearer 
understanding  of  several  points  which  I  had  found  it  difiScult 
to  comprehend. 

Unfortunately  the  weather  during  my  visit  was  not  suffi- 
ciently favourable  to  enable  me  to  examine  so  closely  as  I 
could  have  desired  the  corals  of  the  outer  margins  or  to  make 
the  series  of  seaward  soundings  I  had  intended. 

The  first  questions  that  present  tbemselves  to  the  traveller 
in  midst  of  his  amazement  on  first  reaching  that  peculiar 
production  of  the  warm  seas — an  island-speckled  ring  of  coral 
holding  its  own  against  the  waves — are,  How  came  it  into  being 
here,  Why  of  this  singular  form,  and  How  does  it  continue  to 
exist  ?  ]\rr.  Darwin  was  the  first  to  attempt  any  far-reaching 
solution  of  these  difficult  questions,  applicable  to  coral  forma- 
tions over  all  the  world.  As  true  reef-building  corals,  it  is  well 
known,  can  flourish  only  beneath  a  very  limited  depth — some 
twenty  fathoms — of  water,  a  great  apparent  difficulty  existed 
"  respecting  the  foundations  on  which  these  atolls  are  based, 
from  the  immensity  of  tlu?  spaces  over  which  they  are  inter- 
spersed and  the  apparent  necessity  for  believing  that  they  are 
all  supported  on  mountain  summits,  which,  although  rising  very 
near  to  tlie  surface  of  the  sea,  in  no  one  instance  emerge  above  it. 
To  escape  tliis  latter  most  improbable  admission,  which  implies 
the  existence  of  submarine  chains  of  mountains  of  almost  the 


36  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

same  height,  extending  over  areas  of  many  thousand  square 
miles,  there  is  but  one  alternative ;  namely,  the  prolonz/ed  subsi- 
dence of  the  foundations  on  which  the  atolls  icere  primarily  hased, 
together  with  the  upward  groidh  of  the  reef-constructing  corals''  * 
Since  ^h\  Darwin  published  this  theory,  several  expeditions 
expressly  directed  towards  the  examination  of  the  floor  of  the 
great  oceans  have  taken  place,  prominent  among  them  being 
the  United  States  Exploring  Expedition,  the  Tuscarora,  the 
Blake,  and  our  own  Challenger  voyages.     These  have  put  us  in 
possession  of  a  large  body  of  facts  scarcely  guessed  at  when 
Mr.  Darwin  broke  deep  ground  on  this  subject.      Mr.  Dana, 
Professor   Semper,  Professor  Agassiz  and  Mr.  Murray  of  the 
Challenger  staff,  have  also  specially  made  coral  reefs  a  subject 
of  study.     These  three  last  named  investigators  have  shown 
that  the  explanation  of  coral  reef  formation  may  be  in  other 
causes  than  those  of  elevation  and  subsidence.     Great  submarine 
banks  have  been  discovered,  "  covered  by  deposits  of  Pteropods 
and  Globigerina  ooze  serving  as  foundations  for  barrier  reefs 
and  atolls,  while  their  volcanic  substratum  has  been  completely 
hidden."     "  The   fact  that   these    great   submarine   banks   of 
modern  limestone  lie  in  the  very  track  of  the  great  oceanic 
currents  sufficiently  shows  that  these  currents  hold  the  immense 
quantity  of  carbonate  of  lime  needed  in  the  growth  of  the 
banks.  .  .  .  Mr.  3Iurray  has  shown  that  if  the  pelagic  fauna 
and  flora   extend  .  .  .,  as  experiments   seem  conclusively  to 
prove,  to  a  depth  of  100  fathoms,  we  should  have  IG  tons  of 
carbonate  of  lime  for   every  square  mile  100  fathoms   deep. 
But  the  greater  the  depth  at  which  these  plateaux  begin  to 
form,  the  less  rapid   must  be   their   formation.     Deep   water 
itself  being,  as  Professor  Ditmar  has  recently  shown,t  a  greater 
solvent  (not  from,  as  has  been  held,  its  containing  a  much  greater 
proportion  of  free  carbonic  acid,  but  because  of  its  depth,)  than 
shallower  water,  would  dissolve  up  all  the  lighter  and  thinner 
calcareous  shells  and  debris;  while  in  less  deep  water,  the  dead 
siliceous  and  calcareous  shells  of  Foraminifera,  Sponges,  Hy- 
droids.  Corals,  IMoUusca,  etc.,  would  accumulate  and  build  up 
these  plateaux,"  with  a  calcareous  conglomerate.     "  Whenever 

*  'The  Structure  and  Distribution  of  Coral  Reefs,'  by  Chaiks  Darwir, 
1842,  pp.  146-7.     The  italics  are  the  present  author's. 

t  Official  Report  of  the  Scientific  Results  of  the  A'oyage  of  II.'M.S. 
Challenger :  Physics  and  Chemistry.     Vol.  1. 


IN  TEE   COCOS-KEELING  ISLANDS. 


such  plateaux  have  reached,  on  their  windward  side,  the  level 
at  which  corals  prosper,  that  is,  some  120  feet  below  the  surface, 
these  coral  reefs  spring  u\)  and  flourish,"*  and  subsisting  at  a 
greater  depth  than  all  others,  a  solid  foundation  is  laid  by  the 
close  compactly  growing  Astr^ex  ;  then  on  their  dense  floor,  in 
v\hose  myriad  crannies,  molluscs  and  all  manner  of  marine 
beings  have  sheltered,  died  and  left  their  shells  compacted  by  the 
carbonate  of  lime  let  loose  from  their  partial  disintegration  and 
solution  into  a  solid  limestone  conglomerate  consisting  of  coral, 
of  shells  and  of  all  that  may  have  fallen  on  it,  which  they  have 
raised  layer  above  layer  as  near  the  surfece  as  they  may,  the 
Brain-corals  {Meandrina)  and  the  Porites  assume  and  continue 
the  upward  task  till  they  "  in  their  turn  reach  the  limit  beyond 
which  they  are  forbidden  by  the  laws  of  their  nature  to  pass.  .  .  . 
But  the  coral  wall  continues  its  steady  progress ;  for  here  the 
lighter  kinds  set  in — the  JMadrepores,  the  Millipores  and  a 
great  variety  of  Sea-Ferns, — and  the  reef  is  crowned  at  last  with 
a  many-coloured  shrubbery  of  low  feathery  growth."  t 

This  is  in  its  main  outlines  Murray's,  Semper's,  and  Agassiz's 
explanation  of  how  a  reef  originates.  Unfortunately  for  my 
own  satisfaction  and  guidance  when  examining  the  Keeling  reef, 
I  had  not  read  Professor  Semper's  views,  and  those  of  the  other 
two  naturalists  were  not  then  published.  I  have  now  pictured 
the  reef  as  risen  to  almost  the  surface  of  the  sea  at  ebb  spring- 
tides ;  higher  than  this  the  coral  polyps,  which  die  when 
exposed  for  a  very  short  period  only  to  the  air  and  the  sun, 
cannot  raise  it ;  but  as  corals  flourish  best  in  the  battle  of  the 
waves,  which  are  better  aerated  and  charged  with  the  pelagic 
life  which  sustains  them,  they  can  extend  only  seaward  and 
grow  their  fastest,  checked  solely  where  ocean  currents  scour  too 
fiercely  past  them.  In  this  stage  such  a  coral  structure  (as  the 
Keeling  atoll)  might  be  seen  to  bo  roughly  circular  in  form, — 
observable  also  in  all  the  raised  islets  of  the  grouj)  as  well  as 
in  North  Keeling, — doubtless  by  being  beaten  on  all  sides. 
Travelling  from  the  exterior  margin  of  the  reef  inwards,  coral 
growth   from    less    abundant   sustenance  is   seen   to   bo   less 

*  'The  Tortnga  and  Flori.la  Ttccfsi,'  by  Alexander  Agassiz,  Mem.  Am. 
Soc.  of  Arts  and  Sc,  vol.  xi.  p.  113. 

t  '  Flnriila  Ueofs,' L.  A'j;a^si7,,  j\Iem.  Mus.  Comp.  Zoology,  p.  -10.  Proc. 
li.  S.  Elinb.,  No.  107,  1880  :  '"  On  the  Structure  and  Origin  of  Coral  Keefs  and 
Islands." 


38  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


luxuriant  and  has  grown  to  a  less  height  than  more  externally, 
and  consequently  we  have  a  Lagoon,  which  sometimes,  though 
rarely,  is  enclosed  by  an  unbroken  ring  of  coral ;  more  com- 
monly, however,  (as  in  Keeling  atoll)  the  reef  is  intersected  by 
several  channels  communicating  between  the  lagoon  and  the 
outer  ocean.  These  channels  are  produced  by  many  causes, 
such  as,  swift  currents  interrupting  the  growth,  decay  of 
the  coral  from  local  causes,  and  natural  or  accidental  dis- 
turbances. 

On  a  subsiding  or  stationary  foundation  such  a  reef,  raised 
to  the  level  of  low-water  mark,  can  never  by  any  luxuriance  of 
its  own  growth  rise  above  the  water  level  and  become  a  coral 
island.  Great  storms,  however,  by  breaking  off  blocks  of  its 
living  and  ever  seaward-growing  margin,  and  throwing  them 
on  the  lagoonward  portion  of  the  reef,  alone  are  able  to 
commence  the  raising  above  the  surface  of  the  ocean  of 
future  islets,  on  which  after  the  gradual  accumulation  of  soil, 
consisting  of  sand  and  the  decaying  flotsam  and  jetsam  of  the 
ocean,  and  the  germinating  seeds  that  the  winds,  the  sea  currents, 
or  the  birds  of  the  air  may  chance  to  cast  on  its  bosom,  a 
green  clothing  of  vegetation  inevitably  grows  up. 

In  traversing  the  Keeling  atoll  it  seemed  to  be  unaccount- 
able how  the  interior,  or  lagoon  margins  of  the  islets,  which 
must  necessarily  have  been  thrown  up  above  water  at  the 
earliest  stage  of  the  existence  of  the  atoll,  still  continue  (on 
the  supposition  that  the  atoll  is  subsiding)  several  feet 
elevated  above  high-water  level,  and  show  no  indication  of  the 
water's  encroachment.  As  a  storm  so  violent  as  the  cyclone 
of  1876  was  ca})able  of  piling  the  torn-off  blocks  of  the  reef- 
floor — composed  of  a  natural  concrete  of  w'orn  coral,  shells, 
and  the  hard  parts  of  pelagic  animals,  imbedded  in  a  solid 
calcareous  matrix — only  a  few  yards  over  the  higher  edge  of 
the  island,  it  is  impossible  for  the  lagoon  margins,  in  some 
places  more  than  800  yards  distant  from  the  sea,  to  be  kept  up 
in  elevation  by  the  debris  of  the  outer  margin  ;  and  the  greatest 
storms  do  not  affect  perceptibly  or  permanently  the  shores  of 
the  lagoon. 

Mr.  Ross  informed  me  that  what  Mr.  Darwin,  from  the 
undermining  of  cocoa-nut  trees  seen  by  him,  supposed  to  be 
sea  encrcachments,  was   intermittently   taking   place   during 


IN  THE   COCOS-KEELINa   ISLANDS.  39 

gales  round  the  lagoon  shores ;  and  pointed  out  to  me  that 
where,  in  such  places,  a  portion  of  tlie  land  was  washed  out, 
the  same  amount  was  replaced  in  some  adjacent  part  of  the 
shore.  He  showed  me  also  on  the  little  islet,  named  in  the 
chart  "Workhouse  Island,  a  rather  exposed  corner  which  had 
been  completely  washed  away  with  all  the  trees  on  it,  in  the 
cyclone  of  1876,  but  which  in  January,  1878,  had  become  to  a 
great  extent  replaced.  A  period  going  on  for  half  a  century 
had  elapsed  since  Mr.  Darwin's  observations,  and  the  encroach- 
ments of  the  sea  on  the  land  had,  in  my  judgment  at  least,  not 
increased  at  all ;  on  the  contrary,  it  struck  me  that  the  land 
was  gaining  on  the  lagoon.  This,  too,  was  Mr.  Boss's  opinion, 
from  a  thorough  and  intelligent  knowledge  of  every  part  of 
its  coast  and  surface. 

On  "\\'est  Island,  in  a  short  time  the  lagoonlet  will  be 
entirely  converted  into  dry  land.  At  present  it  is  nearly 
filled  up,  and  remains  dry  at  all  ordinary  tides  except  on 
two  or  three  occasions  a  year,  with  a  pure  white  chalk-like 
sediment,  the  detritus  of  coral-attrition  by  the  waves  washed 
in  from  the  outside  of  the  reef,  where  the  sea  is  always  more 
or  less  turbid ;  all  along  its  coast  also,  as  far  as  its  south 
corner,  the  West  Island  is  gaining  ground  by  the  accumu- 
lation of  sediment.  If  subsidence  were  proceeding,  this  sedi- 
ment could  not  rise  above  high-water  level.  In  the  centre 
of  Horsburgh  Island,  which  is  three-quarters  of  a  mile  in 
breadth,  the  ground  exhibits  an  unbroken  solid  conglomerato 
surface  not  composed  of  the  strewn  debiis  from  storms; 
and  a  lakelet  of  salt  water  containing  no  life,  which  occurs 
in  it,  seems  to  be  an  old  lagoon  extremely  shallow  and  nearly 
obliterated.  In  Xorth  Island  also,  1.3  miles  distant,  as  Mr. 
Ross  told  me,  the  lagoon  was  rabidly  filling  up  ;  its  entrance 
passage  has  since  our  knowledge  of  it  been  always  barred  by 
the  reef.  In  all  these  islands,  in  sinking  wells  down  for  some 
]  2 — 20  feet  through  the  solid  conglomerate  of  which  all  the 
islands  are  composed,  fresh  water  can  be  found.  The  only 
exception  is  Direction  Island,  in  w hich  no  fresh  water  has  been 
discovered,  and  which  is  entirely  composed,  as  far  as  borings 
have  been  made,  of  shingle  debris  such  as  is  found  along  the 
beach  of  the  seaward  margin. 

Between  Direction  Island  and  Workhouse  Island  I  observed 


40  A   NATUBALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

what  seemed  to  me  signs  of  recent  elevation.  At  ebb  tide 
there  the  water  was  very  shallow  and  quite  warm  to  the  hand, 
and  I  noticed  Ostrseidse,  small  Tridacnse  and  other  shells  all 
dead  where  they  grew,  doubtless  killed  by  exposure  to  the  sun  at 
low  tide  and  by  the  fresh  water  during  heavy  rains.  Of  these 
tropical  downpours,  Darwin  records  one  as  having  taken  place 
before  his  visit,  and  Mr.  Ross  told  me  that  in  1866,  there  were 
several  months  of  such  continuous  rain  that  the  fresh  water 
stood  for  several  inches  on  the  surface  of  the  lagoon,  causing  the 
death  of  large  numbers  of  fish,  and  no  doubt  of  corals  also. 

Completely  surrounding  this  little  islet  was  a  thrown-up 
beach  of  very  white  sand,  quite  different  from  that  I  saw 
anywhere  else  on  the  atoll,  composed  entirely  of  the  minute 
shells  of  molluscs,  Echini,  and  of  crabs,  with  a  small  proportion 
of  coral  debris,  probably  raised  by  the  waves  from  the  seaward 
slope  of  the  barrier,  indicating,  perhaps,  a  less  abrupt  descent 
than  has  been  supposed.  Since  its  first  occupation  (by  Koss 
Primus)  the  lagoon  has  greatly  filled  up  with  coral  patches  and 
sediment,  as  he  could  sail  his  vessel  much  farther  up  towards 
South-east  Island  than  now,  and  several  boat  channels  cut  as 
indicated  on  the  map  have  become  quite  obliterated.  On  the 
east  side  of  the  atoll  the  islets  are  much  smaller  than  at  any 
other  part,  and  this  may  result  if  such  an  untoward  circum- 
stance as  the  irruption  of  poisoned  water,  such  as  I  have 
recorded  above,  were  to  occur  at  frequent  intervals.  It  is 
possible  also  that  such  a  stream  might  issue  frequently,  if  not 
in  great  quantity,  without  being  observed. 

I  incline  to  believe,  therefore,  that  the  Keeling  reef 
foundation  has  arisen  as  IMurray,  Semper  and  Agassiz  have 
suggested  ;  but  that  its  islets  have  been  the  result  of  the 
combined  action  of  storms  and  the  slow  elevation  of  the  vol- 
canically  upheaved  ocean  floor,  on  which  the  reef  is  built.* 

The  ntoll  offers  to  the  marine  biologist  a  rich  mine  that 
would  take  not  a  few  years  of  working  to  exhaust ;  f  to  the 

*  An  abstract  of  an  exhaustive  restmje  and  discussion  by  Dr.  A.  Geikie, 
F.R.S.,  of  the  Coral  Eief  lheories^vill  befoundin  A^aiwre,  Nov.  29  and  Dec.  G, 
1883,  of  which  the  fidl  text  has  just  been  published  in  the  Proc.  Phys.  Soc. 
Edin.,  vol.  viii.  (1884). 

t  I  have  elsewhere  (Proc.  R.  O.  S.,  March  1884)  directed  attention  to  ihe 
admirable  situation  of  this  S]:ot  for  a  Biological  and  Meteorological  Station, 
where  it  could  be  kept  up  at  the  most  trifling  cost. 


IN   THE   COCOS-KEELING   ISLANDS.  41 

philosopher  and  student  of  human  nature  not  a  little  to  reflect 
on,  as  to  the  effect  on  the  colonists  of  a  life  so  isolated,  so  apart 
from  the  active  stimulus  of  rivalry,  and  the  sharp  incentives  to 
advancement  born  of  public  opinion  and  the  intercourse  of 
fresh  minds,  and  so  distant  from  the  cheering  influence  of 
the  warm  sympathies  of  their  fellow  men;  yet  among  whom, 
at  least,  instead  of  symptoms  of  physical,  mental  or  moral 
degeneration — despite  the  belief  of  Mr.  Dana  *  that,  "  notwith- 
standing all  the  products  and  all  the  attractions  of  a  coral 
island,  even  in  its  best  condition,  it  is  but  a  miserable  place  for 
human  development,  physical,  mental  or  moral," — he  would 
find  continuous  endeavour,  industry  and  care  crowned  with 
progress,  and  lives  spent  in  contented  happiness ;  to  myself 
it  had  opened  a  field  of  study  charged  in  every  aspect  with 
all  that  was  interesting  and  very  much  that  was  new. 

On  the  Sth  of  February  Mr.  Ross  brought  me  at  last  the 
inevitable  news  that  the  Mabel  was  a^jain  freighted  Avith  her 
cargo  of  nuts  and  oil,  and  would  sail  next  day  for  Batavia, 
coupled,  however,  with  a  warm  invitation  to  wait  till  her  next 
return  from  Batavia,  and  visit  in  the  meantime  the  North 
Keelings.  Every  consideration  urged  me  to  accept,  but  it 
was  with  liveliest  regret  that  I  found  it  impossible  to  do  so. 
The  recollection  of  its  pleasures  and  its  owner's  Highland- 
chieftain-like  hospitality  (born  of  his  blood)  will  ever  make 
the  Keeling  atoll  a  memory  to  dwell  on. 

On  the  9th  we  set  sail,  and  falling  in  a  few  days  later  with 
the  steadily  blowing  Monsoon  wind  we  scudded  gaily  along 
before  it,  and  anchored  in  Batavia  on  the  16th,  accomplishing 
in  a  week  what  it  liad  taken  us  thirty  days  to  sail  over  on  our 
outward  vovage. 

*  Dana, '  Corals  and  Coral  Islands,'  p.  24.G. 


42  A   NATURALIST'S   WANDERINGS 


APPENDIX  TO  PAKT  I. 


Note.— J.,  represents  Java;  T.,  Timor;  T-L.,  Timor-luut;  Sum.,  Sumatra; 
T.  d'A.,  Tristan  d'Acunlia.  The  plants  obtained  by  IMr.  Durwiu  were  described 
by  Rev.  J.  S.  Henslow  iu  Ann.  Nat,  Hist.,  vol.  i.  p.  337. 


I.— List  of  the  Keeling  Atoll  Plants.  {-^i,_  Dar°^ir''xhe^Author. 

AnonaceiE. 
Anoiia  reticulata,  L.         ..  ..  ..  ..  ..         —  X 

Cnici/ene. 
Sinapis  juncea,  L.     Aru. ..  ..  ..  ..  ..         —  X 

Cajjparidacex. 
Gynandropsis,  sp.     Prob.  cultivated.      ..  ..  ..         —  X 

Malvacece. 

Hib'scus  tiliaceus,  L.     T,  J.,  Pacf.  Ids.           ..  ..  X  X 

Hibiscus  Kosa-siiiensis,  I>.     Introduced.          ..  ..  —  X 

Sida  carpinifolia,  L.  fil.     Bladeira.    Mauritius.  . .  —  X 

Tiliacex. 
Tri  um  fet  ta  procumbens,  Forsf.  ..  ..  ..  X  X 

Lerjuminosse. 
Acacia  farnesiana,  TF.     T. 
Poinciana  pidciierrima,  L.     Introduced 
Guilandina  Uouduc,  .42Y.     T. 

Rosace  a\ 
Eriobotrya,  sp.     Cultivated. 
Kosa  ceiitifoliu,  L.     Cultivated. 

Mijrtacex. 
Guava,  spp.     Cultivated.  ..  ..  ,.  ,.         —  X 

Liitlirucex. 
Pemphis  aciduia, -Fors^     T.       ..  ..  ..  ..  x  X 

Papmjacex. 
Carica  papaya,  L.  ..  ..  ..  ,.  ..         —  x 

Crassulacex. 
Bryophy Hum  calycinum, /SaZ/st.  ..  ..  ..         —  X 

rortulacex. 
Portulaca  oleracea,  Z.        T.-L.  ..  ..  ..  x  X 

Ruhiacex. 
Guettarda  speciosa,  i.     T.  .,  ,.  ..  ..  x  X 

Moriuda  citrifolia,  Z.     T.  ,.  ..  ..  ..         —  X 


X 

X 

— 

X 

X 

X 



X 

— 

X 

IN   THE   COCOS-KEELING   ISLA*NDS  43 

Compositx. 
Sonclius  oleraceus,  Z.     J.,  Sum.,  T.  d'A.         -.  ..         —  X 

Apocynacae. 
Vinca  rosea,  L.     ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  . .         —  X 

Ocbrosia  parvitiora, /?e»s?.  ..  ..  ..  ••  X  X 

Goodenovieae. 
Scsevola  Koenigii,  Vald.     T.       ..  ..  ..  ..  X  X 

Asclepiadiaceas. 
Asclepias  curassavica,  i.     J.      ..  ..  ..  ..         —  X 

Bignomaccx. 
Oroxylum  indicum,  Vetd.     Cultivated.  ..  ..         —  X 

Boraginex. 
Cordia  sulicordata,  iain.     T.,  T-L.,  Austr.     ....  X  X 

Tourueibrtia  argeutea,  L.     T.,  W.  lud.  ..  ..  X  X 

Solanacex. 
Physalis  peruviana,  L.      .,  ,.  ..  ..  ..         —  X 

Acantliacex. 
Dicliptera  Burnianni,  JVees,  i-ar.    J.,  T.  ..  ..  X  X 

Lahiatm, 
Leonurus  sibiricus,  Z.      ..  ..  ..  ....         —  X 

Verhenacex. 
Stachytarpheta  indica,  Z.     Tiop.  Asia.  ..  ..         —  X 

Isyclaginesn. 
Boeiliavia  diffusa,  W ,  var.  fi,  var.  7,  Uensl.   T.  ..  X  X 

Fisouia  iiicnuis  (^y),  i'o/«<.    Australia.  ..  ..  X  X 

Amaranthacex. 
Acliyrauthes  argentea,  Lam ,  var.  villosior.     T.         . .  X  X 

Vrticaeex. 
TJrera  Gaudic'haudiana,  Hensl.    ,,  ..  ..  ..  X  X 

Euphorhiacex. 
Ricinus  communis,  Z.     Cultivated.       ..  ..  ..         —  X 

Aleurites  Moluccaua,  W.     (A.  S.  Kt>ati:ig.) 

Graminem. 

Panicura  sanguinale,  Lin.  var.     T.        ..  ..          ..  X  X 

Stenotajihrum  lej)t.uroide,  Ucnd.            ..  ..          ..  X  — 

Tjej)turus  repuiis.  Ford.     T.        . .          . .  . .          . .  X  X 

Erasrostis  aiuaViilis,  L.     T,          ..          ..  ....  —  X 

Fimbristylis  glomeratus,  i\ee«.    ..          ..  ..          ..  —  X 

Pidmacex. 
Co3os  uucifora,  L.,  var.  Bali.     (A  S.  Keating.)  ..X  X 

Bandanaccx. 
Pandanus,  sp.     (Ilolman.)  ..  ..  ....         — 

Musci. 
Hypnum  rufesccns,  2/oo/i.  ..  ..  ..  ..  X 

Fungi. 
Polyporus  luri  lus  ....         X 


44  A   NATUBALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


II. — List  fif  the  Birds  of  the  Keeling  Islands. 

Ploceua.liypoxanthus,  migrant,  nesting  in  North  and  South  Keeling. 

Padda  orizivora,  in  captivity. 

Gallus  bangkiva,  introduced. 

Heiodias  nigripes,  nesting  on  the  Pisonia  trees. 

Demigretta  sacra,  nesting  oti  tlie  Pisonia  trees. 

Nycticorax  caledonicus.     Here  found  for  tiie  first  time  west  of  Timor. 

Totanus  canescens,  migrant. 

Scolopax  rusticola,  migiant. 

Rallus  phiiippensis ;  found  in  great  abundance  ;  brings  up  domestic  chicks, 

when  her  own  eggs  l.ave  been  changed  lor  those  of  fowls  or  ducks. 
Anas  sp.,  migrant. 
Anous  stolidus. 
Sula  piscatrix. 
Tachypetes  minor. 
Phaelon  Candidas. 
Gygis  Candida. 

III. — List  of  Corals  collected  in  the  Keeling  Islands.     Determined  by 
S.  U.  Ridley,  M.A.,  F.L.S.,  and  J.  J.  Quelch,  I3.Sc. 

Ilijdrocnralh'mf. 

MiUepora  vcrruco.sa,  Mll-F.d.  <t  Haime.     Outside  the  reef, 
forskiili,  Mil.-Ed.  &  Haiuie.     Inside  the  reef. 
Madreporaria. 

Madrepoia  scandens,  Klaz. 

orbipora,  Dana  var.     Inside  tlie  reef. 
Anacropora,  Eidley,  cliaractLriscd  as  follows  : — * 

ANACROPORA.f 

Madreporidai  of  ramose  habit.  Axis  and  apex  of  branches  formed  by 
a  spongy  coenenchyma.  New  calicles  formed  centripetally,  i.e.  from  the 
base  towards  the  apex ;  no  calicle  of  any  kind  at  the  apex.  Calicles 
equally  distributed  all  round  stem  and  branches,  with  a  tendency  to  an 
arrangement  in  longitudinal  series.  Septal  system  well  developed,  com- 
prising two  cycles  of  six  septa  each,  two  (approximately  upper  and  lower) 
primaries  being  larger  than  the  foijr  lateral  primaries. 

Ohs. — Anacropora  is  based  on  the  new  species  A.  forbesi,  described 
below,  and  on  some  forms  which  occur  in  the  Challenger  collection  of 
reef-corals,  to  be  hereafter  described  by  Mr.  J.  J.  Quelch,  of  the  Natural- 
History  Museum ;  I  have  had  tlie  advantage  of  Prof.  Duncan's  and  Mr. 
Quelch's  opinions  on  this  important  form,  opinions  which  have  been  freely 
and  kindly  given.  The  general  growth  and  other  characters  given  above 
are  essentially  the  same  in  all  the  species.  In  all  the  growth  is  low,  the 
branches  tending  to  form  inosculations  between  each  other ;  the  stem  and 
branches  are  cylindrical,  and  no  distinct  tubular  calicles  are  formed. 

From  Madrepora  this  genus  differs  markedly  in  the  centripetal 
production  of  the  calicles,  by  which  the  youngest  calicles  are  always  the 
uppermost.  From  the  subgenus  Isopora,  Studtr  (see  he.  inf.  cit.),  it  differs 
in  the  same  point,  as  well  as  in  its  slender  dendroid  growth  ;  but  the  first; 
distinction  is  not  so  marked  at  first  sight,  since  the  peculiar  growth  of 
Isopora  almost  necessitates  the  absence  of  a  distinct  apical  calicle,  but  (as 

*  Extracted  from  Ann.  &  Mag.  Nat.  Hist.,  April  1881,  p.  2S5,  pi.  xi._ 
t  From  dc,  privative  particle,  &kdo5,  summit,  iropos,  passage  or  pore  ;  in  allusion 
to  the  absence  of  pores  from  the  euds  of  the  branches. 


IN   THE   COCOS-KEELING   ISLANDS.  45 

stated  loc.  cit)  the  mnrle  of  gemmation  is  centrifugal  in  Isopora,  as  in 
Madrepora,  s.  str.  Other  points  distinguishing  Anacropora  from  most 
species  of  Madrepora  are  the  formation  of  the  axis  of  the  branches  by  a 
spongy  ccBuenchyma,  whereas  in  many  (if  not  all)  ]Madre])orfB  this,  in 
accordance  with  the  centrifugal  habit  of  budding,  is  occupied  to  a  greater 
or  less  distance  from  the  ends  of  the  branches  by  the  downward  prolon- 
gations of  the  septa  and  the  interseptal  spaces  of  the  apical  calicle.  The 
rudimentary  condition  of  the  external  part  of  the  calicle  distinguishes 
Anacropora;  for  althougli  it  is  commonly  found  (I  refer  to  the  sunk 
calicles  occurring  in  so  many  species  between  the  prolonged  tubular  or 
nariform  ones)  in  some,  it  is  never,  so  far  as  my  knowledge  extends,  found 
in  all  the  calicles  in  any  Madrepora. 

Although  in  its  general  appearance  it  differs  remarkalily  from  even 
the  branched  species  of  Montipora,  yet  the  structural  differences  which 
separate  Anacropora  from  this  genus  are  very  far  less  distinctive  than 
those  Avhich  separate  it  from  Madrepora.  In  the  first  place,  in  spite  of 
its  external  resemblance  to  Madrepora,  it  has  the  same  system  of  calicular 
budding  (viz.  centripetal,  from  the  distal  coenencliyma)  which  we  find 
well  developed  in  the  ramose  ]\Iontipora  ;  the  trabecular  structure  and  the 
two-cycled  arrangement  of  the  septa  is  the  same  in  both  genera.  On  the 
other  hand,  whereas  in  Anacropora  there  is  always  an  undifferentiated 
coenenchymal  apex,  devoid  of  calicle^,  to  the  branches,  in  Montipoi'a  this 
apex  appears  always  to  bear  at  least  one  calicle  on  its  surface.  In  Anacro- 
pora the  calicles  are  always  rather  distant  and  tend  to  form  lines,  and  are 
slightly  raised  above  the  surface,  forming  low  hill-like  eminences,  whereas 
in  the  ramose  Montipora  (cf/.  digitata,  Dana,  divaricata  and  superficialis, 
7>/vtr/i7e»;o/(;/),  which  on  the  whole  most  clo?ely  approach  Anacropora,  the 
calicles  open  flush  with  the  surface,  are  crowded  indif^criminately.and  no 
linear  arrangement  is  apparent.  In  Montipora  foliosa,  it  is  true,  the 
calicles,  especially  on  the  ])()sterior  aspect  of  the  corallum,  are  elevated  in 
a  similar  manner;  but  the  foliate  growth  and  the  monticular  /«^e/--cali- 
oular  eminences  of  tlie  upper  surface  seem  to  remove  this  si)ecies  far  from 
the  ramose  jMontiporaj.  it  seems  to  me  not  improbable  that,  for  the 
reasons  I  have  inilicated,  these  ramose  forms  may  have  to  be  sej^arated 
from  the  foliate  and  massive  species  of  Montipora. 

The  relations  of  Anacrojiora  may  be  thus  sliortly  stated  : — Anacropora 
has  the' general  growth  of  Madrepora,  but  the  manner  of  budding  of 
Montipora. 

The  following  is  a  description  of  the  single  species  referable  to  this 
genus  whicli  I  am  able  to  describe;  owing  to  the  interest  attaching  to  the 
type,  I  have  allowed  myself  to  give  its  characters  at  full  length  : — 

AxACRoroRA  FORnr.si,  liidJey. 

Corallum  branching  frequently,  dichotomously,  occasionally  snbtri- 
chotomously;  branches  given  off  in  succession  in  a  subspiral  manner, 
tlie  planes  of  successive  bifurcations  varying  from  about  30^  to  10U°  with 
regard  to  each  other;  angle  between  brandies  couii)Osing  bifurcation  80^ 
to  KXr.  Stem  and  branches  sliglitly  curved,  the  apical  branches  more 
strongly  so,  cylindrical, exce|)t  the  terminal  branches,  which  tend  to  curve 
outw'ards  mid  tajier  gradually  to  points  ;  diameter,  inain  axes  G-7  millim., 
intermediate  and  terminal  branches  about  4  millim.,  greatest  length 
lietween  bifurcations  of  main  l)ranches  about  30  millim.,  terminal  twigs 
25  millim.  long.  Calicles  arranged  more  or  less  detinitely,  for  the  most 
part  in  .scries  which  follow  ai)i»roximately  the  longitudinal  axis  of  the 
stem  and  branches,  the  calicles  of  cue  series  alternating  with  those  of  tho 

5 


46  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

adjacent  series;  series  about  '2  millim.  apart,  calicles  about  2  to  2-5 
rni'llim.  apart  in  the  series.  Cilicle-i  forming,  everywhere  but  on  the  tips 
of  the  branches,  low  rounded  elevations,  by  the  gradual  rising  of  the 
surface  towards  their  inferior  margins  to  a  height  of  •25  to  "7  millim., 
and  occasionally  by  the  similar  but  very  slight  elevation  of  their  superior 
margins.  Calicles  orbicular,  looking  upwards;  orifice  of  adult  calicles 
•5  to  -1  millim.  in  diameter  ;  on  tlie  tips  of  the  branches  they  oj^en  on 
the  level  of  the  surface  of  the  corallum,  are  more  or  less  imperfectly 
defined  from  the  surrounding  loose  coenenchyma,  and  measure  about  -23 
to  '4  miilim.  in  diameter.  Septa  trabecular,  consisting  of  vertical  series 
of  horizontal  pointed  projections  from  the  wal!  of  the  calicle,  beginning  just 
below  its  margin,  distinct.  Primaries  about  -25  millim.  in  length  in  full- 
grown  calicles,  comprising  two  main,  opposite  ones,  variously  placed  {i.e. 
from  parallel  to  the  long  axis  to  at  an  angle  of  45'^  with  the  same),  which 
converge  towards  the  bottom  of  the  calicle,  where  they  meet  and  form  a 
vertical  plate ;  the  other  primaries  are  slightly  smaller  and  do  not  meet 
below.  Secondaries  varying  from  about  half  the  diameter  of  primaries  to 
mere  points  on  the  side  of  the  calicle  ;  the  secondary  septum  between  the 
two  lateral  primaries  is  sometimes  wanting. 

—Corallum  slightly  vermiculate,  always  covered  by  minute  points  at 
surface  (at  apex  looser,  very  porous) ;  the  outer  one-quarter  of  diameter 
(except  at  apex,  formed  of  a  denser  tissue,  in  which  the  calcareous 
traboculse  exceed  in  diameter  the  sjiaces  between  them  ;  the  central  one- 
half  of  the  diameter  {viz.  usually  about  2  millim.),  consisting  of  a  loose 
tissue,  in  which  the  calcareous  bars  are  only  about  half  the  diameter 
of  the  intervening  spaces ;  the  meshes  of  this  tissue  (as  seen  in  transverse 
section  of  a  branch)  elongate  towards  margin,  smaller  and  relatively 
shorter  at  centre.  Apices  of  branches,  to  a  distance  of  from  2-8  millim. 
from  the  ends,  formed  of  the  looser  axial  coenenchyma,  and  carrying 
more  or  less  rudimentary  calicles,  which  are  at  least  1  millim.  from  all 
other  calicles  in  the  same  longitudinal  series. 

Hah.  Keeling  Islands,  Indian  Ocean;  deeper  water  inside  reef. 

Eepresented  by  a  single  colony  and  a  detached  branch,  whicli  has 
lived  independently  after  its  fracture  from  the  parent  specimen.* 
They  were  collected  and  presented  to  the  British  Museum  by  Mr.  H.  0. 
Forbes,  F.Z.S.  &c.,  who  has  already  {Proc.  Roy.  Oeogr.  Soc,  Eec.  1879) 
described  these  islands,  and  with  whose  name  I  have  much  pleasure  in 
associating  this  new  type.  The  chief  colony  measures  83  millim.  (3i 
inches)  in  height,  100  millim.  (4  inches)  in  greatest  breadth,  and  55  millim. 
(2r  ilichcs)  from  front  to  back;  the  detached  branch,  which  bifurcates 
three  times,  was  about  GO  millim.  long  when  alive.  Parts  of  the  corallum, 
owing  either  to  an  evanescent  pigment  or  to  traces  of  animal  matter,  I  ave 
a  most  delicate  pink  tint. 

Some  interesting  points  are  brought  out  by  the  detached  branch  ;  this 
occurs  unrooted,  but  obviously  had  been  broken  off  from  the  colony 
while  yet  alive,  and  lived  siibsequently  free.  As  commonly  happens  in 
such  cases,  the  fractured  surface  has  healed  over ;  but  in  this  case  the 
new  material  is  not  a  continuation  of  the  superficial  ccenenchyma  of  the 
adjacent  side  over  the  stump,  but  the  prolongation  outwards  of  the  loose 
central  ccenenchyma  which  has  developed  on  itself  five  or  six  young 
calicles.  Here  also  the  law  of  centripetal  gemmation  asserts  itself,  these 
calicles  occurring  on  the  sides  of  a  central  cone  of  loose  coenenchyma,  of 

*  See  Moseley's  '  Notes  by  a  naturalist  on  ChaUcnrjer.'  "  Some  specimens 
of  this  (Forites)  species  were  unattached,  though  living,  being  in  the  form  of 
rounded  mnsses,  entirely  covered  with  living  polyiis  .  .  .  and  I  suppose  from 
time  to  time  rolled  over  by  the  waves  " :  p.  344.     [H.  O.  F.] 


IN   TEE   COCOS-KEELING   ISLANDS.  47 

which  the  apex,  1  millim.  long,  is  unclifferentiatGcl  and  bears  no  calicles. 
The  same  law  is  followed  in  the  process  of  repair  exhibited  by  a  broken 
stnrap  of  a  branch  on  the  larger  specimen.  The  wide  angle  of  bifurcation 
of  the  branches  causes  the  colony  to  assume  a  low  decunibent  form,  and 
bringing,  as  it  does,  neiglibouring  branches  into  juxtaposition,  gives  rise 
1o  anastomoses ;  the  branching  in  various  planes  gives  it  a  broad  top. 

Ediir.opora  lamellosn,  Enp. 

Moutipora  digitata,  Dana.     Inside  tlie  rtef. 

sp.  near  expaiisa,  Dana. 
Porites  laivis,  Dana.     (V)  Outside  tlie  reef. 
Favonia  lata,  Dana.     Inside  the  reef. 
Pocillopora  brovicornis.  Lam.     Inside  tlie  reef, 
elegaui  (?)  Dana.     Outside  the  reef. 


PART    II. 


IN    JAVA. 


CHAPTER  I. 

SOJOUEN   AT    GENTEXG   IN   BANTAM. 

On  the  road — The  Sundanese  language — Every  man  a  naturalist — Bird-life  at 
Genteng — "Weaver-birds' nests — A  native  rural  bazaar — Forest  devastation 
— Geological  structure  of  the  district — A  wonderful  case  of  mimicry  in  a 
spider. 

On  my  return  to  Javn  from  the  Keeling  Islands,  I  had  the 
good  fortune  to  meet  in  Batavia  with  a  countryman,  Mr. 
Alexander  Fraser,  one  of  the  few  freeholders  of  land  in  Java, 
who  though  just  starting  for  England,  kindly  offered  me  the 
privilege  of  collecting  over  his  vast  property  situated  in  the 
western  province  of  Bantam,  and  the  hospitality  of  his  house  if  I 
should  choose  to  stay  there.  This  offer  I  was  only  too  pleased 
to  accept,  in  order,  while  still  within  reach  of  civilisation,  to 
become  acquainted  witli,  and  gain  some  practical  experience 
of,  the  necessities  and  modes  of  tropical  life  and  camping,  of 
which  the  novitiate  traveller  has  such  crude  ideas — for  collect- 
ing among  tropical  vegetation  is  very  different  from  the  ideas 
formed  of  it  from  like  operations  conducted  amidst  the  sparse 
woods  of  our  temperate  climate  ; — but  principally  to  isolate 
myself  from  all  European-speaking  people  for  the  purpose  of 
acquiring,  with  tlu;  aid  of  a  few  books  and  chiefly  with  my 
native  servants,  the  Malay  language  as  rapidly  as  possible. 
In  addition,  the  late  Dr.  Scheffer,  the  kind  Director  of  the 
Botanical  Gardens  in  Buitenzorg,  had  recommended  to  me 
Bantam  as  a  profitable  and  by  no  means,  botanically  at  least, 
well  investigated  province  to  visit. 

Having  hired  a  cou[)le  of  cahars — a  sort  of  spring-cart  with 
one  horse,  the  general  mode  of  conveyance  when  one  travels  as 
I  was  about  to  do,  off  the  main  roads, — one  for  myself  and  one 
for  my  baggage,  I  left  Batavia  at  sunrise  on  the  I'Jth  of  3[arch, 
by  the  western  road  along  the  low  northern  shore  lands  towards 


62  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDEBINGS 

Kangkas-betong,  by  the  famous  highway  which  Dandels,  one 
of  the  most  energetic  and  far-seeing  of  all  the  early  Governors- 
General  of  the  Dutch  Indies,  constructed  along  the  whole 
length  of  the  island,  and  which  has  proved  one  of  its  greatest 
benefits  and  colonizers.  To  expedite  the  journeys  of  their 
various  officials  round  their  districts,  at  every  five  or  six  miles 
stable  stations  have  been  erected  by  the  Government,  where 
horses  are  changed,  and  which  private  travellers  can  obtain 
permission  to  make  use  of  on  payment  of  small  mileage  dues. 

All  along  the  road  we  passed  little  sign-posts  with  Arabic 
inscriptions  indicating  how  many  yards  of  the  road  on  each  side 
of  them  must  be  kept  in  repair  by  the  various  neighbouring 
villages.  As  the  keeping  of  the  roads  is  most  strenuously 
enforced,  they  are  never  out  of  condition,  and  are  a  pleasure  to 
drive  over.  Here  and  there  it  has  been  impossible  to  bridge 
the  larger  rivers  in  steep  defiles  where  the  stream  is  deep  and 
swift,  and  these  are  crossed  in  large  j)i<^turesque  rafts  which 
can  accommodate  horse  and  carriage  and  quite  a  little  crowd 
of  people  at  once.  These  rafts,  by  sliding  on  rattan  rings 
along  two  strong  cables  of  thick  rattan  canes  securely  fixed  to 
both  banks,  are  floated  over  by  the  ferrymen  by  hand-over- 
hand traction  on  these  cables. 

When  on  the  road  the  dress  of  the  Sundanese,  especially  of 
the  women  and  children,  is  invariably  bright  coloured  calicoes, 
clean  and  newly  ironed,  and  their  head-covering  is  the  gaily 
lacquered  bamboo  hats  for  whose  manufacture  they  are  famous. 
The  burdens  of  the  men,  whatever  they  may  consist  of,  are 
made  up  in  neat  and  tastefully  arranged  bundles,  carried 
always  on  the  shoulders,  suspended  at  the  ends  of  a  bamboo — 
and  it  is  amazing  what  a  weight  these  thick-set  stout  fellows 
can  carry  in  this  way.  Such  a  ferry,  in  the  sunlight,  with  a 
background  of  green,  wooded  slopes,  presents  therefore  always 
a  gay  scene  and  forms  quite  an  interesting  break  in  the  drive. 

The  country  throughout  was  rather  tame,  being  quite  stripped 
of  forest,  but  full  of  interest,  as  the  land,  being  entirely  under 
rice  cultivation,  was  laid  out  in  the  most  beautiful  system  of 
terraces.  The  province  of  Bantam  is  densely  populated,  and 
scarcely  a  portion  of  uncultivated  land  was  to  be  observed. 
As  Mr.  Wallace  in  his  '  Malay  Archipelago,'  has  fully 
described,  this   method,  introduced  by  the  Hindus   on  their 


7iV^  JAVA.  53 

invasion  of  Java,  has  attained  a  wonderful  development 
throughout  the  whole  of  the  lowlands  in  the  western  part  of 
the  island.  In  these  saicahs,  as  the  natives  call  their  wet  rice 
fields,  the  grain  is  cultivated  in  small  square  borders  separated 
by  green,  grass-ridged  banks,  kept  constantly  flooded  with 
water  brought  by  a  wonderful  network  of  channels  in  which 
an  intricate  system  of  sluices  or  valves  distributes  or  cuts 
off  its  flow  wlierever  desired.  The  entire  face  of  such  low 
hills  as  have  a  gentle  slope,  are  thus  laid  out  down  to  their 
bases,  and  at  the  season  when  the  young  corn  is  in  its  fresh 
green  leaf  the  country  is  extremely  pretty. 

Mr.  Fraser's  estate-house  at  Tjikandi-Udik,  which  I  reached 
late  in  the  evening,  I  found  to  stand  amid  a  rich  and  entirely 
cultivated  country,  but  as  regards  my  pursuits  a  barren  terri- 
tory. After  enjoying  for  a  few  days  the  hospitality  of  the 
Administrator  I  moved  south-westward  to  Genteng  in  the 
hiirher  reo-ion  of  Lebak,  where  I  was  told  some  forest  was  then 
being  felled. 

Here  I  built  a  bamboo-hut  in  an  open  spot  with  an  exhila- 
rating look-out  on  the  high  mountains,  and  alone  with  my 
Malay  boys  began  my  initiation  into  the  language  of  the 
country,  and  into  the  nomadic  joyous  life  of  a  field  naturalist. 
It  is  a  life  full  of  tiresome  shifts,  discomforts,  and  short 
commons ;  but  these  are  completely  forgotten,  and  the  days 
seem  never  long  enough  amid  that  constant  flash  of  delighted 
surprise  that  accompanies  the  beholding  for  the  first  time 
of  boast  or  bird  or  thing  unknown  before,  and  the  throb  of 
pleasure  experienced,  as  each  new  morsel  of  knowledge  amal- 
jramates  with  one's  self. 

Between  myself  and  my  boyn  for  a  time  the  most  ludicrously 
comprehended  sign-language  was  carried  on,  till  their  speech, 
whose  sentences  to  my  unaccustomed  ears  seemed  com})osod  of 
but  one  continuous  word  of  innumerable  uncouth  syllables, 
began  to  shape  itself  into  distinguishable  elements,  when  to 
my  amazement,  as  if  some  obstruction  had  been  suddenly  re- 
moved from  my  ears,  I  com]  rehended  them  as  if  I  had  been 
brought  up  among  them.  Before  many  weeks  were  over  I 
could  converse  in  the  Malay  tongue  with  an  amount  of  freedom 
that  surprised  me. 

The  language  of  the  district,  that  is,  of  the  Sundancse  them- 


54  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

selves,  tliougli  containing  many  Javanese  and  Malay  words,  is 
quite  distinct  from  either.  It  is  a  coarser  and  rougher  speech, 
and  it  was  some  time  before  I  managed  to  acquire  it ;  but  I 
found  it  to  be — like  broad  Scotch  in  comparison  with  pure 
English — one  of  great  expressiveness. 

As  soon  as  I  was  able  to  follow  their  discourse  with  ease, 
my  daily  talks  with  these  men  were  a  source  of  great  pleasure 
to  me.  I  soon  found  out  that  in  regard  to  every  thing  around 
them,  they  were  marvellously  observant  and  intelligent.  Not 
one  or  two  only,  but  every  individual  amongst  them  seemed 
equally  stored  with  natural  history  information.  There  was 
not  a  single  tree  or  plant  or  minute  shrub,  but  they  had  a  name 
for,  and  could  tell  the  full  history  of ;  and  not  a  note  in  the 
forest  but  they  knew  from  what  throat  it  proceeded.  Every 
animal  had  a  designation,  not  a  mere  meaningless  designation, 
but  a  truly  binomial  appellation  as  fixed  and  distinctive  as  in 
our  own  system,  differing  only  in  the  fact  that  their's  was  in 
their  own  and  not  in  a  foreign  language.  Often  enough  this 
designation  has  so  close  a  resemblance  and  sound  to  Latin, 
that  it  has  been  accepted  by  Western  naturalists  as  if  it  had 
been  so.  One  of  the  liveliest  and  most  obtrusive  of  the  squirrels 
in  Java  and  Sumatra  is  a  little  red-furred  creature  called  by 
the  natives  tupai,  and  to  distinguish  it  from  its  more  arboreal 
congeners  they  add,  from  its  habit  of  frequenting  branches 
near  the  ground,  the  word  tana  (for  earth) ;  and  Tupaia  tana 
is  its  accepted  scientific  term  among  European  naturalists. 

They  liave  unconsciously  classified  the  various  allied  groups 
into  large  comprehensive  genera,  in  a  way  that  shows  an  ac- 
curacy of  observation  that  is  astonishing  from  this  dull- 
looking  race.  In  this  respect  they  excel  far  and  away  the 
rural  population  of  our  own  country,  among  whom  without  ex- 
aggeration scarcely  one  man  in  a  hundred  is  able  to  name  one 
tree  from  another,  or  describe  the  colour  of  its  flower  or  fruit, 
far  less  to  name  a  tree  from  a  portion  indiscriminately  shown 
him.  How  acute  is  their  observation  is  exemplified  by  their 
name  for  the  groujDs  of  true  parasitic  plants  of  the  Lorantliacex 
(or  Misletoes),  which  are  disseminated  chiefly  by  being  unob- 
trusively dropped  by  birds  in  convenient  clefts  of  trees, 
they  denominate  as  Tai  hooroong  ("  birds'  excreta  ")  ;  while  to 
epiphytic  plants  they  give  a  name  that  has  almost  the  signi- 


IN  JAVA.  55 

ficance  of  our  own  scientific  term.  The  great  group  of  the 
Laurels,  which  so  vary  in  flower  and  foliage  as  to  be  separated 
off  into  many  genera  by  botanists,  are  all  designated  by  the  one 
name  Euru,  but  they  are  differentiated  by  no  fewer  than  sixty- 
three  different  specific  terms,  in  every  instance  indicating 
some  prominent  distinguishing  characteristic  of  flower,  fruit  or 
timber ;  and  on  examination,  very  few  indeed  of  them  turn  out 
not  to  belong  to  the  Laurel  family.  Of  oaks,  Passan^g  in  their 
tongue,  they  discriminate  sixteen  different  species,  commencing 
their  list  with  the  one  they  consider  most  typical,  just  as  we  find 
in  our  own  catalogues  of  birds,  among  the  Warblers  for  instance, 
Cisticola  cisticola  representing  the  typical  species,  the  Sunda- 
nese  say  Passang  betid,  or  "true  oak,"  for  what  they  consider 
the  oak  of  oaks.  Among  animals  their  system  of  classification 
into  genera  is  not  carried  so  far ;  but  all  the  more  distinctive 
groups,  especially  those  living  in  communities,  and  every 
insect  and  bird,  if  in  any  way  peculiar  or  wliere  it  can  be  mis- 
taken for  another,  have  each  their  own  binomial  appellation. 

I  was  disappointed  in  finding  that  the  forest  about  Genteng 
was  nearly  all  second  growth,  with  scarcely  any  of  what  I  was 
principally  in  search  of  for  my  herbarium — specimens  of  the 
primal  trees.  Birds,  however,  were  more  plentiful,  and  in  the 
avenue-like  roads  and  paths,  stretching  for  miles  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood, butterflies  and  other  insects  were  very  abundant, 
but  though  interesting  to  me,  and  occasionally  new  to  the 
ornithology  or  entomology  of  the  Malayan  region,  most  of 
them  v.ere  species  well  known  to  science.  Amid  an  expanse 
of  low  scrub  in  front  of  my  door,  on  which  the  buffaloes  from 
the  nei^hbourinfr  villa2:es  wandered  more  at  their  own  will 
than  directed  by  their  young  herds,  stood  within  gunsliot  of 
my  verandah  table  several  tall  trees,  from  which,  frequented  as 
they  were  at  all  hours  of  the  day  by  different  kinds  of  birds,  I 
was  constantly  able  to  add  with  great  ease  to  my  collection, 
and  to  observe  the  habits  of  many  species  that  it  would  have 
been  difficult  otherwise  to  see. 

I  never  tired  of  watching  the  friendly  relation  between  the 
Buffalo-birds  {Sturnopastor  ialla  and  S.  melanopterus)  and 
their  bovine  hosts.  They  used  to  collect  in  impatient  flocks 
about  the  hour  of  the  return  of  the  herd  to  their  feeding 
grounds  from  the  wallowing  holes,  whither  in  the  heat  of  the 


56  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

day  they  retired ;  and  as  soon  as  the  cattle  arrived  they 
would  alig-ht  on  their  backs  in  crowds,  to  the  evident  satis- 
faction of  the  oxen,  which  they  relieved  of  troublesome  parasites. 
Although  the  herd-boys  commonly  lay  dozing  at  full  length 
on  the  buffaloes'  backs,  the  birds  seemed  to  know  that  they 
were  quite  safe,  and  would  even  alight  on  the  bare  backs 
of  the  sleepers,  and  from  that  hop  on  to  the  haunches  of  the 
quadruped  ;  and  when  the  herds  were  driven  away  at  nightfall 
the  Sturnopastors  flew  off  to  the  forest. 

One  of  the  rarer  birds  obtained  here  was  the  fine  red- 
crested  Woodpecker  {Mighjptes  tristis),  which  much  resembles 
the  M.  gramminithorax  of  Malherbe,  which  is  not  found  in 
Java,  while  the  former,  distinguished  by  its  uniform  black 
breast  and  abdomen,  is  confined  to  this  island.*  In  the 
gloaming,  frequenting  leafless  branches,  I  often  saw  the 
minute  Butterfly  Ha\Ak  (Microh'erax  fringiUarius),  not  so 
large  as  a  shrike,  darting  after  grasshoppers,  moths  and  late- 
flying  butterflies.  Among  the  songsters  that  made  them- 
selves more  noticeable  by  frequenting  the  isolated  trees  near 
my  house,  were  the  golden  Oriole  [Oriolus  maculatus)  and 
the  yellow  crowned  Bulbul  (Trachycomiis  ochrocephalus), 
which  late  in  the  evenings  filled  the  whole  neighbourhood 
with  their  melodious,  clear,  bell-like  notes  ;  while  two  members 
of  the  Cuckoo  family,  the  "  Doodoot "  {Fihinococcyx  curvirostris) 
and  the  "  Boot "  {B.  javanensis)  used  to  utter  their  curious 
bleating  call  in  the  low  jungle  behind,  often  breaking  with  their 
weird  modulations  the  stillness  of  the  midnight.  In  a  neigh- 
bouring clump  of  canes  a  colony  of  Yellow  Weaver-birds 
(Ploceiis  hypoxanthus)  had  thickly  hung  their  nests.  Each  nest 
was  artfully  suspended  between  the  interlacing  leaf-stems  of  one 
or  two  reeds  in  a  most  skilful  way,  to  secure  as  much  as  possible 
the  safety  of  their  eggs  during  the  waving  of  the  reeds  in  the 
wind.  These  nests  were  not  made  fast  to,  but  strung  lightly 
on  the  leaves,  sometimes  passed  through  the  fork  of  another 
leaf  to  form  a  pulle}'-,  so  as  to  permit,  by  sliding  along  in  the 
swaying  of  the  grass,  of  their  retaining  their  vertical  position, 
which  they  must  do,  weighted  as  they  are  by  a  layer  of  clay  in 
the  bottom  of  the  nests,     I  noticed  that  many  of  them  were 

'   Cf.  Hargitt,  '  Ibis,'  188+,  pp.  190, 191 ;  and  Nicholson,  op.  cit,  1879, 16. 


IN  JA  VA.  • 


57 


deserted  from  the  breaking  of  one  or  more  of  their  eggs,  after 
incubation  Lad  progressed  some  way  ;  in  others,  where  there 
was  only  one  chick,"  there  was  often  one  Qg^  which  had  been 
cracked  and  become  dried  np,  so  that  even  with  all  their 
acute  architectural  devices  the  wind  appears  to  wreck  the 
hopes  of  the  little  builders. 

A\  hat  can  be  the  use  of  the  mud  in  the  Weaver-birds'  nests 
has  often    been  discussed.     Mr.    E.   L.   Layartl,  the  accurate 


TWO   FORMS   OF   THE   NEST   OF   THE   WEAVER   BIRD. 


observer  and  well-known  ornithologist,  has  suggested  *  "  that 
these  lumps  of  mud  \\ero  used  as  scrapers  on  which  to  clean 
the  birds'  bills  ";  but  if  in  the  nests  I  found  here  they  were 
used  for  this  purpose,  it  must  have  been  only  at  the  commence- 
ment of  their  task,  for  the  layer  of  mud  would  be  quite  con- 
cealed at  an  early  stage  of  their  nest-ljuilding.  I  am  more 
inclined  to  the  belief  that  they  are  to  weight  and  balance 
the  nest,  from  having  found  loose  among  the  lowr  stems 
unfinished  portions,  wliich  were  evidently  the  foundations  of 
*  Xattire,  Dec.  1879. 


58  A    NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

nests,  which  had  been  blown  down  before  being  properly- 
secured.,  or  were  they,  perhaps,  abandoned  unsuccessful  first 
attempts  ?  They  had  the  exact  shape  of  tiny  key  baskets,  such 
as  are  used  by  housewives,  one  end  being  weighted  with  a  layer 
of  clay.  I  was  also  struck  by  the  fact  that  different  indi- 
viduals had  adopted  different  forms  of  nests,  which,  though 
agreeing    fundamentally,    exhibited    considerable     variation. 

The  bulk  of  them  were  of  the 
retort  shape,  set  with  a  long- 
necked  orifice  hanging  down- 
ward, but  a  considerable  number, 
of  the  progressionist  party  per- 
haps,   had    inaugurated   a    new 

ABANDONED  NEST-FouNDAT.ox.        ^'^shiou   by   invcrtiug  thc  rctort 

and  shortening  the  neck,  giving 
the  doorway  an  upward  and  forward  entrance,  which,  if  more 
enticing  to  depredators,  may  perhaps  be  less  awkward  to 
the  owners.  I  much  regret  that  I  have  no  note  as  to  the 
position  of  the  clay  in  this  new  form  ;  for  what  was  previously 
the  bottom  of  the  nest  had  become  a  dome  over  the  bird,  while 
its  eggs  were  laid  in  what  would  correspond  in  the  older  pattern 
with  the  upper  curve  of  the  neck  of  the  retort,  so  that  if  my 
belief  is  correct  that  the  use  of  the  clay  is  to  retain  the  nest 
in  its  vertical  position,  it  ought  to  be  found  occupying  a 
corresponding  site  in  the  new  structure.  It  is  possible,  however, 
tliat  the  deviation  from  the  ancestral  pattern  may  result  from 
an  unequal  distribution  of  clay  during  the  laying  of  the 
foundation  of  the  nest,  causinj;  it  to  become  reversed  without 
diverting  tiie  bird's  purpose  from  completing  its  work  as  best 
it  could,  under  the  altered  conditions. 

One  of  the  bird-cries  that  early  attract  attention  is 
the  reiterated,  unvaried  call  of  the  Bell-birds  (Megala^minse), 
poured  forth  in  long  stretches  from  the  top  of  some  high 
tree,  where,  from  their  plumage  according  so  well  with 
the  varied  colours  of  the  vegetation,  they  can  select  a  perch 
even  in  a  prominent  branch  without  fear  of  discovery.  I 
obtained  five  different  species  of  these  birds,  wliich  belong  to 
one  of  the  most  varied  and  beautiful-plumaged  families,  and  of 
which  some  idea  may  be  obtained  by  turning  over  the  pages  of 
Marshall's  splendid  monograph  of  the  group. 


IN  JAVA.  59 

A  stream  which  ran  near  my  house  was  crossed  by  one  of 
those  native-made  bamboo  bridges,  which  spaciously  housed 
and  thatched  over,  have  such  a  neat  and  attractive  look  about 
them.  Every  Sunday  morning  the  district  market  was  held 
under  it,  which  from  an  early  hour  presented  quite  a  gay  and 
busy  scene.  I  never  missed,  if  I  could,  an  opportunity  of 
visiting  these  Passars,  as  1  found  them  delightful  resorts  for 
studying  the  native  in  his  gayer  moods  ;  for  market-day  was 
always  their  holiday,  and  the  market-place  the  rendezvous  for 
the  youths  and  maidens  of  the  district,  as  well  as  the  news- 
exchange  of  the  old  men.  The  vendors,  to  be  early  at  the 
market-place,  generally  spent  Saturday  evening  and  night 
under  the  shade  of  the  bridge,  or  collected  in  the  neighbouring 
village,  whence  the  tinkle  of  the  gamelaug,  their  characteristic 
musical  instrument,  would  be  heard  throughout  the  livelong 
night  in  company,  if  not  concord,  with  the  higher  notes  of  their 
curiously  drawling  voices,  repeating  tjeritas  or  semi-historical 
tales,  and  adaptations  from  the  Koran,  varied  by  ])antuns  or 
love  songs. 

The  collection  of  wares  exposed  for  barter  was  always  a 
curious  one  :  sarongs  from  their  own  looms — whose  incessant 
click-clack  is  one  of  the  most  pleasant  and  characteristic  of  the 
industrial  sounds  in  their  villages — calicoes  and  silk  kercliiefs 
from  jManchester  and  Liverpool ;  Clark's  Paisley  thread  of 
"extra  quality";  native-made  horn  combs,  gay  ornaments  of 
spangles  and  beads,  and  the  elaborate  inlaid  silver  breast-pins 
for  which  the  district  is  famous,  worn  by  every  female  to  fasten 
her  loose  upper  robes  ;  and  bamboo  hats  in  great  variety.  The 
Bantamese  are  specially  noted  for  the  manuiacture  of  these  last, 
and  some  of  them  are  really  exquisite  specimens  of  plaiting. 
In  the  finest  quality,  made  of  carefully  prepared  narrow  strips 
of  the  wood,  a  quiet  but  Inerative  trade  is  done  with  Enropean 
markets  by  unobtrusive  go-betweens  who  collect  them  through 
the  district.  In  Bantam  they  cost  a  mere  trifle,  but  in  Paris, 
I  am  informed,  they  are  retailed  at  a  profit  of  nearly  one  tliou- 
sand  per  cent.,  as  true  Panama  hats,  from  whicli  it  is  difficult 
to  distinguish  them.  One  of  these  hats,  that  I  treated  to  the 
rougliost  jungle  wdrk  of  three  years,  was  scarcely  iin})aired 
when  we  parted  comj)any. 

Other  than  these  the  chief  articles  were  household  utensils, 


60  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

large  copper  jars  for  the  preparation  of  rice,  beat  out  of  sheet 
copper  hj  native  smiths,  and  shallow  iron  basins  (of  Singapore 
make)  for  the  daily  extraction  of  the  oil  of  the  cocoa-nut 
palm,  without  which  and  its  twin  brother  the  bamboo,  native 
prosperity  and  happiness  would  cease.  There  were  besides 
piles  of  various  species  of  dry-salted  river  fishes,  chiefly  Gabus 
{Ophiocephalus  striatus),  Soro  and  Regis  (Barbus  duronensis 
and  B.  emarginatus),  and  Gurame  {Opliromenus  olfaoc),  the 
most  jirized  of  them  all,  in  which  a  large  and  profitable  trade 
is  carried  on  with  distant  parts  of  the  Archipelago.  IMany  of 
these  fishes  are  carefully  preserved  in  the  larger  wet  rice  fields, 
where  during  the  rainy  season,  having  abundance  of  food,  they 
multiply  with  great  rapidity.  During  the  hot  season,  when 
the  saicaJis  have  become,  except  in  the  centre,  dry  fields,  the 
fishes  are  captured  in  immense  numbers.  Fried  in  fresh  oil 
they  form  an  excellent  dish,  and  are  the  staple  flesh-food  of 
the  natives. 

A  vile  odour  which  permeates  the  whole  air  within  a  wide 
area  of  the  market-place,  is  apt  to  be  attributed  to  these  piles 
of  fish  ;  but  it  really  proceeds  from  another  compound  sold  in 
round  black  balls,  called  irassL  My  acquaintance  with  it  was 
among  my  earliest  experiences  of  house-keeping  at  Genteng. 
Having  got  up  rather  late  one  Sunday  morning — an  opportu- 
nity taken  by  one  of  my  boys  to  go  unknown  to  me  to  the 
market,  which  I  had  not  then  visited — I  was  discomfited  by 
the  terrific  and  unwonted  odour  of  decomposition : — "  3Iy 
birds  have  begun  to  stink,  confound  it !  "  I  exclaimed  to 
myself.  Hastily  fetching  down  the  box  in  which  they  were 
stored,  1  minutely  examined  and  sniffed  over  every  skin, 
giving  myself  in  the  process  inflammation  of  the  nostrils  and 
eyes  for  a  week  after,  from  the  amount  of  arsenical  soap  T 
inhaled  ;  but  all  of  them  seemed  in  perfect  condition.  In  the 
neighbouring  jungle,  though  I  diligently  searched  half  the 
morning,  I  could  find  no  dead  carcase,  and  nothing  in  the 
''  kitchen-midden,"  where  somehow  I  seemed  nearer  the  source ; 
but  at  last  in  the  kitchen  itself  I  ran  it  to  ground  in  a  compact 
parcel  done  up  in  a  banana  leaf. 

"  What  on  the  face  of  creation  is  this  ?  "  I  said  to  the  cook, 
touching  it  gingerly. 

*'  Oh  !  master,  that  is  trassi." 


IX  JAVA.  61 

"  Trassi  ?     What  is  tntssi,  in  the  name  of  goodness  !  " 

"  Good  for  eating,  master  ; — in  stew." 

"  Have  I  been  eating  it  ?  " 

"  Certainly,  master ;  it  is  viosf  excellent  (enak  sekali)." 

"  You  born  fool !  Do  you  wish  to  poison  me  and  to  die 
yourself?  " 

'•  3ray  I  have  a  goitre  (daih  gondok),  master,  but  it  is  excel- 
lent !  "  he  asseverated,  taking  hold  of  the  foreskin  of  his  throat, 
by  the  same  token  that  a  countryman  at  home  would  swear, 
"Assures  Death!" 

Notwithstanding  these  vehement  assurances,  I  made  it  dis- 
appear in  the  depths  of  the  jungle,  to  the  horror  of  the  bov, 
who  looked  wistfully  after  it,  and  would  have  fetched  it  back, 
had  I  not  threatened  him  with  the  direst  penalties  if  I  dis- 
covered any  such  putridity  in  my  house  again.  I  had  then  to 
learn  that  in  every  dish,  native  or  European,  that  I  had  eaten 
since  my  arrival  in  the  East,  this  Extract  of  Decomposition 
was  mixed  as  a  spice,  and  it  would  have  been  diftieult  to 
convince  myself  that  I  would  come  by-and-bye  knowingly  to 
eat  it  daily  without  the  slightest  abhorrence.  Dampier,  who 
mentions  it  in  his  '  Voyage,'  seems  to  have  formed  his  acquaint- 
ance with  it  in  a  more  philosopliic  spirit,  for  he  describes  it  in 
theso  terms  : — "  As  a  composition  of  a  strong  savour,  yet  a 
very  delightsom  dish  to  the  natives.  To  make  it  they  throw 
a  mixture  of  shrimps  and  small  fish  into  a  sort  of  weak  pickle 
made  with  salt  and  water,  and  put  into  a  tight  earthen  vessel. 
The  pickle  being  thus  weak,  it  keeps  not  the  fish  firm  and 
hard,  neither  is  it  probably  so  designed,  for  the  fish  are  never 
gutied.  Therefore  in  a  short  time  they  turn  all  to  a  mash  in 
the  vessel ;  and  when  they  have  lain  thus  a  good  while  so  that 
the  fish  is  reduced  to  pulp,  they  then  draw  off  the  liquor  into 
fresh  jars  and  preserve  it  for  use.  The  masht  fish  that  remains 
behind  is  called  Trassi.  'Tis  rank  scented  ;  yet  the  taste  is 
not  altogether  unpleasant,  but  rather  savoury  after  one  is  a 
little  used  to  it." 

One  of  the  most  terrible  scourges  of  the  island,  anil  for  which 
no  remedy  seems  possible,  is  the  spread  everywhere  of  a  species 
of  tall,  slender  cane — useless  for  fodder  and  good  onlv  for  thatch, 
— which  the  natives  call  alang-alang.  Every  spot  unoccupied 
by  forest,  falls  a  prey  to  it ;  and  when  once  it  gets  the  upper 
C 


62  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

hand,  forest  seeds  refuse  to  root  in  it.  Neither  the  incessant 
rains,  nor  the  driest  droughts  of  summer  kill  it.  The  fire  may 
sweep  the  surface  bare,  but  it  fails  to  touch  the  roots,  which 
spring  again  in  fresher  vigour  through  the  ashes.  Deep  shade 
alone  seems  to  check  its  growth.  The  native  in  the  hill 
regions  does  not  make  saivahs  (whicli  are  good  from  year  to 
year),  but  constantly  takes  in  his  fields  by  felling,  where  he 
lists,  in  the  unbroken  forest.  As,  after  reaping  for  only  two 
seasons  this  new  land,  (on  which  he  scatters  his  seed  between  the 
fallen  trunks),  he  deserts  it  for  a  newer  patch,  broad  tracts  of 
the  island  are  every  year  becoming  covered  with  this  ineradi- 
cable exhauster  of  the  soil,  and  by-and-bye  the  virgin  forests 
of  this  country  will  have  entirely  ceased,  if  some  sharper 
supervision  be  not  exercised  by  the  Government  over  the 
timber-felling  mania  of  the  native.  As  Colonel  Beddorae 
remarks  of  the  like  devastation  in  India  :  "  the  value  of  the 
timber  thus  destroyed  by  one  man,  calculating  it  by  the 
number  of  logs  it  might  have  yielded,  is  at  least  twenty  times 
as  great  as  the  value  of  the  crop  of  ra(/i  obtained  in  the 
two  years  that  cultivation  is  continued.  The  low  jungle 
which  comes  up  after  desertion  of  Icumari  land  is  more 
injurious  to  health  than  lofty  forest  open  below.  Besides 
health  considerations  and  decrease  of  rain  and  moisture,  this 
rude  system  of  culture  [results  in]  the  destruction  of  valuable 
timber  ....  and  rendering  of  land  unfit  for  coffee." 

The  present  vegetation  of  the  whole  of  this  portion  of  the 
island  stands  on  an  unbroken  layer  of  volcanic  mud,  which  tells 
of  a  period  of  almost  unparalleled  volcanic  activity.  AVherever 
the  streams  have  opened  sections,  or  a  road  cutting  has 
been  made,  numbers  of  great  trees,  some  of  them  thirty  yards 
in  length,  are  exposed  in  a  completely  silicified  condition,  and 
often  so  jierfectly  as  to  have  preserved  to  their  cores  the 
structure  of  their  tissues.  Standing  on  some  one  of  these  bare 
denuding  slopes,  I  have  tried  to  picture  to  myself  the  terrible 
outburst  in  which  this  region  must  have  been  overwhelmed,  at 
a  date  which  cannot  geologically  have  been  very  remote ;  for 
lying  prostrate  in  great  numbers  as  they  were, — many  of  them 
having  fallen  across  each  other, — the  forest  of  which  they 
formed  a  part  must  have  been  suddenly  entombed  beneath  an 
avalanche  of  the  petrifying  mud  so  deep  that  the  powerfully 


IX  JAVA.  63 

corroding  tropical  rains  of  centuries  are  only  now  beginning  to 
exhume  them. 

About  the  only  piece  of  exposed  strata  in  this  part  of  Java, 
I  believe,  lay  within  a  few  miles  of  my  hut.  Out  of  itl  picked 
fossil  fragments  of  vegetable  stems,  and  of  broken  Odraia 
and  Peden  shells,  closely  resembling  those  still  in  the  adjacent 
seas,  and  showing  that  an  elevation  of  some  200  to  300  feet  had 
taken  place  here  at  a  recent  period.  That  these  subterranean 
forces  whose  activity  resulted  in  the  varied  physical  changes 
which  West  Java  has  experienced  (such  as  the  subsidence  of 
the  Sunda  Straits),  had  not  ceased,  was  brought  home  to  me 
with  all  the  vivid  and  indescribable  sensations  that  accompany 
one's  first  experience  of  powerful  and  unwonted  phenomena. 

On  the  28tli  of  31arch,  1879,  about  eight  o'clock  in  the  even- 
ing, while  sitting  under  my  verandah,  a  sudden  shiver  and 
a  violent  bumping  wave  passed  as  it  were  through  me  and 
under  my  feet,  bewildering  me,  but  affording  me  the  ineradicable 
experience  of  a  violent  earthquake.  For  some  thirty  seconds 
my  hut  and  all  its  contents  were  lustily  shaken,  but  otherwise 
no  harm  was  done.  Some  forty  miles  awav,  however,  at  the 
base  of  the  Gede  volcano,  the  village  of  Tjanjoor  was  wrecked 
and  several  lives  lost  amid  the  fallins:  houses,  while  on  the 
following  day  volumes  of  smoke  and  ashes  were  emitted  by  the 
mountain  whose  summit  formed  the  background  of  my  view. 

One  of  my  most  interesting  discoveries  here  was  a  case  of 
mimicry  in  a  spider,  of  the  kind  named  alluring  coloration  by 
]\Ir.  Wallace.  The  spider  itself,  to  which  I  had  given  the 
provisional  name  of  T/iomisus  decipiens,  has  proved  interesting 
as  the  type  of  a  new  genus,  named  Ornithcscaioides  by  the 
llev.  0.  i*.  Cambrido;e.  The  ffreat  interest  attachinji:  to  this 
find,  however,  is  on  account  of  its  habits.  I  had  been  allured 
into  a  vain  chase  after  one  of  those  large,  stately  flitting 
butterflies  (Hestia)  through  a  thicket  of  prickly  Pandantis 
horridas,  to  the  detriment  of  my  apparel  and  the  loss  of  my 
temper,  when  on  the  bush  that  obstructed  my  farther  pursuit 
I  observed  one  of  the  Eesptriidie  at  rest  on  a  leaf  on  a  bird's 
dropping.  I  had  often  observed  small  Blues  at  rest  on  similar 
spots  on  the  ground,  and  have  often  wondered  what  the  members 
of  such  a  refined  and  beautifully  painted  family  as  the  Lycm- 
nidse  could  find  to  enj<»y  at  food  seemingly  so  incongruous  for 


64 


A   NATUEALIST'S    WANDEBINGS 


a  butterfly.  I  approached  with  gentle  steps  but  ready  net  to 
see  if  possible  how  the  present  species  was  engaged.  It  per- 
mitted me  to  get  quite  close  and  even  to  seize  it  between  my 
fingers  ;  to  my  surprise,  however,  part  of  the  body  remained  be- 
hind, and  in  adhering  as  I  thought  to  the  excreta,  it  recalled  to 
my  mind  an  observation  of  Mr.  Wallace's  on  certain  Coleoptera 
falling  a  prey  to  their  inexperience  by  boring  in  the  bark  of 
trees  in  whose  exuding  gum  they  became  unwittingly  entombed. 
I  looked  closely  at,  and  finally  touched  with  the  tip  of  my 


A   BIRD  S  EXCRETA-MIMICKING  SPIDER. 


finger,  the  excreta  to  find  if  it  were  glutinous.  To  my  delighted 
astonishment  I  found  that  my  eyes  had  been  most  perfectly 
deceived,  and  that  the  excreta  was  a  most  artfully  coloured 
spider  lying  on  its  back,  with  its  feet  crossed  over  and  closely 
adpressed  to  its  body. 

The  appearance  of  the  excreta  rather  recently  left  on  a  leaf 
by  a  bird  or  a  lizard  is  well  known.  Its  central  and  denser 
portion  is  of  a  pure  white  chalk-like  colour,  streaked  here  and 
there  with  black,  and  surrounded  by  a  thin  border  of  the  dried- 
up  more  fluid  part,  which,  as  the  leaf  is  rarely  horizontal^  often 
runs  for  a  little  way  towards  the  margin.  The  spider,  which 
belongs  to  a  family,  the  Thomisidx,  possessing  rather  tubsrcu- 


IN  JAVA.  65 

lated,  thick,  and  prominent  abdomened  bodies,  is  of  a  general 
white  colour;  the  underside,  which  is  the  one  exposed,  is  pure 
chalk  white,  while  the  lower  portions  of  its  first  and  second 
pair  of  legs  and  a  spot  on  the  head  and  on  the  abdomen  are  jet 
black. 

This  species  does  not  weave  a  web  of  the  ordinary  kind,  but 
constructs  on  the  surface  of  some  prominent  dark  green  leaf 
only  an  irregularly  shaped  film  of  the  finest  texture,  drawn  out 
towards  the  sloping  margin  of  the  leaf  into  a  narrow  streak, 
with  a  slightly  thickened  termination.  The  spider  then  takes 
its  place  on  its  back  on  the  irregular  patch  I  have  described, 
holding  itself  in  position  by  means  of  several  strong  spines  on 
the  upper  sides  of  the  thighs  of  its  anterior  pairs  of  legs  thrust 
under  the  film,  and  crosses  its  legs  over  its  thorax.  Thus  rest- 
ing with  its  white  abdomen  and  black  legs  as  the  central  and 
dark  portions  of  the  excreta,  surrounded  by  its  thin  web-film 
rejjresenting  the  marginal  watery  portion  become  dry,  even  to 
some  of  it  trickling  off  and  arrested  in  a  thickened  extremity 
such  as  an  evaporated  drop  would  leave,  it  waits  with  con- 
fidence for  its  prey — a  living  bait  so  artfully  contrived  as 
to  deceive  a  pair  of  human  eyes  even  intently  examining  it 


66  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


CHAPTER  II. 

SOJOURN   AT   KOSALA  IN  BANTAM. 

Leave  Genteng — Native  blacltsmitbs  at  Sarljira— Hot  springs  of  Tjipanas — 
Birds  and  plants  at  Tjipanas— Invitationto  Kosala — The  Kosala  e.-tate 
— The  ciiiious  disease  Lata — Tlie  Wa\i-\vau — Birds— Bees — White  ants 
— Great  trees — Long  drought  and  its  consequences — 'I  he  Hemileia  vas- 
tatrix,  a  fungoid  blight  and  the  buffalo  disease — Flora  and  Fauna  of 
Kosala  Mountains  —  Singular  living  ants'  nes's  and  their  develop- 
ment— Orchids  at  Kosala  and  some  curious  devices  for  securing  self- 
fertilisation — Ancient  remains  in  the  forest — The  Karangs  and  their 
curious  rites — Tlie  Badui — Religion  and  superstitions  of  the  people  of 
Bantam — Leave  Kosala. 

After  a  very  interesting  period  spent  at  Genteng,  I  removed 
further  to  the  south  in  search  of  a  station  on  the  mountains, 
whose  distant  slopes  I  could  see  covered  with  the  great  forest 
which  I  had  never  yet  beheld  close,  and  under  whose  shade  I 
had  ever  had  such  an  intense  longing  to  roam,  the  charm  of 
whose  grandeur,  after  spending  unbroken  years  in  it,  remains 
still  as  one  of  the  most  delightful  reminiscences  of  my 
residence  in  the  tropics.  Halting  for  a  night  at  Sadjira  I  was 
taken  by  the  chief  of  the  village  to  see  numerous  blacksmiths 
at  work  in  the  manufacture  of  knives  and  krisses.  The 
bellows  used  by  them  in  order  to  give  a  continuous  blast  was 
made  of  two  large  cylinders  of  bamboo  vertically  set  in  the 
ground,  in  each  of  which  a  piston  made  of  a  dense  bunch  of 
feathers  wound  round  a  rod,  was  worked  alternately,  the  wind 
being  conducted  through  a  small  tube  at  the  bottom  of  each 
bamboo,  to  meet  in  one  pipe  before  passing  below  the  fire- 

Pande  is  the  Sundanese  term  for  a  worker  in  iron  ;  the 
word  is  cf  Sanscrit  origin,  and  originally  meant  "  learned." 
Though  this  signification  is  not  attached  to  it  by  the  natives 
now,  the  smiths  are  held  in  the  greatest  esteem  by  them. 
Before  the  Hindu  invasion  the  people  of  Java  used  only  stone 
implements   and  hatchets,  often  of  great  elegance  of  design 


IX  JAVA.  67 

and  beautifully  polished  and  turned.  Dr.  Solewijn  Gelpke, 
the  director  of  "  the  cultures  "  in  Java,  has  formed  at  great  cost 
a  splendid  collection  of  the  implements  of  the  stone  ago  of  the 
island,  some  of  which  I  had  the  pleasure  of  examining  on  my 
way  home  in  1883.  Of  the  beautiful  workmanship  of  the 
early  Javanese  one  or  two  fine  specimens  are  to  be  seen  in  the 
ethnolo2:ical  collection  in  the  liritish  ]Museum. 

In  the  village  of  Tjipanas,  in  the  Tjiberang  valley,  distant 
only  a  few  miles  from  Sadjira,  I  spent  a  week.  The  village 
derives  its  name  from  the  hot-springs  (which  the  name  signifies) 
that  issue  from  the  ground  there  at  a  temperature  of  137"- 
140**  F.  The  place  is  permeated  with  the  odour  of  sulphur 
rising  from  the  springs,  which  had  been  dug  out  into  cisterns, 
round  which  a  crowd  of  sufferers  from  long  distances  wore 
constantly  seated,  bathing  their  diseased  and  ulcerated  limbs 
and  rheumatic  joints. 

An  abrupt  hill  which  overshadowed  the  village,  rising  up  to 
about  1000  feet  above  the  sea,  reminded  me,  in  the  way  in 
which  it  was  composed  of  great  blocks  of  disrupted  rock  lying 
in  all  positions  and  at  every  angle  one  on  another,  of  the 
titanic  structure  of  the  hills  of  Cintra  to  the  north  of  Lisbon. 
Both  probably  owe  their  disintegrated  condition  to  the  con- 
stant earthquakes  by  which  they  are  shaken.  Growing  on 
the  thin  soil  on  the  tops  of  the  rocks  I  gathered  one  of  the  most 
conspicuous  of  ground  orchids,  a  tall  white-flowered  species  of 
Calanfhe,  nearly  all  of  whoso  flowers  1  was  surprised  to  find 
had  been  shed  without  being  fertilised  ;  ^hile  in  the  crevices 
grew  luxuriant  Osmundas  (0.  javanica)  closely  resembling 
the  Eoyal-ferns  found  at  home. 

In  the  young  forest  on  its  slopes  I  shot  three  interesting 
birds  ;  a  male  and  female  of  the  PJatylophus  galericuJatus,  a 
crow- like  bird  with  a  handsome  black  crest  resembling  a 
cockatoo's,  finally  settling  the  question  that  Count  Sulvadori 
was  correct  in  asserting  its  Sumatran  ally  (P.  coronatus)  to  be 
a  distinct  species,  and  not  the  female  of  tlu^  Javan  bird  as  was 
supposed  by  3Ir.  Elliott;  the  other  the  Fairy  Ij]ue-l)ird  {Irene 
tureosa),  one  of  the  finest  plumaged  birds  of  the  island,  which 
is  highlv  prized  in  Europe  for  plumassiers'  purposes.  Its  wings, 
throat  and  breast  are  deep  velvety  black,  while  its  head, 
back  and  tail  are  of  glistening  turquoise-blue,  as  if  the  colour 


68  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

had  been  enamelled  on  in  an  unbroken  sheet.  It  was  found 
quite  solitary  or  in  company  only  with  its  mate,  and  never  in 
flocks. 

I  was  pleased  to  see  the  liveliness  of  the  village  children, 
who  amused  themselves  with  games  very  similar  to  those  of 
children  at  our  country  schools  at  home — games  of  marbles 
played  with  small  stones,  very  like  what  is  called  help  in  the 
north  of  Scotland,  Avith  varieties  of  chevy,  tig,  and  blind-man's 
buff. 

Hearing  that  I  had  come  to  reside  in  the  village,  a  country- 
man, Mr.  H.  Lash  of  the  Kosala  estate,  sent  me  a  warm 
invitation  to  make  his  house  in  the  mountains  my  head- 
quarters, which,  as  Tjipanas  was  a  very  unprofitable  station,  I 
was  only  too  glad  to  do.  Kosala  was  only  a  forenoon's  ride  iij) 
through  winding  valleys  to  an  elevation  of  1800  feet. 

My  gratitude  can  never  be  warmly  enough  expressed  to  this 
esteemed  friend  (now,  I  regret  to  say,  no  more)  and  his  accom- 
plished wife,  for  their  great  hospitality  and  kindness ;  and  for 
the  assistance  which  for  many  months  was  aiforded  me  by  my 
host,  both  personally  and  through  his  servants  and  horses,  in 
making  botanical  collections  in  the  large  stretch  of  virgin 
forest  which  he  owned,  specimens  of  whose  great  trees  were 
si^ecial  desiderata  with  me. 

Orchids  abounded  in  great  variety  in  the  unopened  forest, 
while  the  tree  trunks  that  had  been  lying  felled  in  the  coffee 
gardens  for  some  time  were  overrun  with  the  species  more 
delierhtinir  in  sunshine.  Beino^  soon  struck  with  the  large 
number  whose  flowers  fell  without  setting  any  fruit, — a  fact 
that  first  struck  me  while  botanising  some  years  before  in  the 
south  of  Europe, — I  determined  to  institute  a  series  of  observa- 
tions on  these  plants,  a  project  in  wluch  Mr.  Lash — himself 
one  of  those  who  sedulously  cultivate  science  in  their  leisure 
hours — entered  with  the  greatest  interest,  and  never  Avearied 
of  personally  searching  for  specimens,  for  whose  rearing  he 
put  a  great  part  of  his  beautiful  garden  ungrudgingly  at  my 
disposal. 

The  estate  house,  planned  by  himself,  was  a  large  tiled 
edifice  of  planks  not  subject  to  the  atta(;ks  of  insects,  elevated 
a  few  feet  on  piles  standing  on  an  asphalt  floor,  isolated  by  a 
stream  of  water  entirely  encircling  the  building,  so  that  it  was 


IN  JAVA.  69 

absolutely  free  from  the  tropical  pest  of  ants.  Perfectly  con- 
structed and  furnished  for  a  tropical  climate,  and  provided 
with  a  large  and  valuable  library,  it  was  admirably  situated 
for  a  botanical  station — the  hills  rising  round  it  to  three 
thousand  feet, — whose  advantages  the  want  of  the  necessary 
instruments  alone  prevented  me  from  fully  utilising.  In  no 
part  of  the  world  can  the  climate  reach  greater  perfection, 
I  think,  than  in  the  mountain  regions  of  these  islands,  among 
which  I  first  felt  the  real  charm  of  the  life  I  had  espoused. 

The  first  thing  of  interest  to  attract  me,  within  a  few  hours 
of  my  arrival  at  Kosala,  was  a  case  in  one  of  the  servants  of  the 
house  of  that  curious  cerebral  affection  called  by  the  natives 
lata.  It  is  of  a  hysterical  nature,,  and  is  confined  chiefly  to 
women,  although  I  have  also  seen  a  man  affected  by  it.  On 
being  startled  or  excited  suddenly,  the  person  becomes  lata, 
losing  the  control  of  her  will,  and  cannot  refrain  from  imitating 
whatever  she  may  hear  or  see  done,  and  will  keep  calling  out  as 
long  as  the  fit  lasts  the  name — and  generally  that  word  alone— of 
whatever  has  flashed  through  her  mind  as  the  cause  of  it :  "  He- 
ih-heh,  matjan  !  "  (tiger)  ;  '•  He-ih-heh,  boorung  besar ! "  (a  great 
bird).  Her  purpose  will  be  arrested,  as,  if  walking,  she  will 
stop  short,  and  on  going  on  again  will  often  follow  some  other 
course.  The  prefatory  excdamation  is  an  invariable  symptom, 
seemingly  caused  by  involuntary  hysterical  inspirations. 
According  to  the  degree  of  alarm  the  symptoms  may  remain 
only  a  few  moments  or  last  for  the  greater  part  of  a  day, 
especially  if  the  patient  be  prevented  from  calming  down. 
The  afflicted,  if  not  very  seriously  affected,  are  not  altogether 
incapacitated  from  performing  the  duties  to  which  they  are 
accustomed.  The  most  curious  characteristic  of  the  disease  is 
their  imitation  of  every  action  they  see.  On  one  occasion, 
while  eating  a  banana,  I  suddenly  met  this  servant  with  a 
piece  of  soap  in  her  hand  ;  and,  perceiving  she  was  slightly 
lata,  but  without  appearing  to  take  any  notice  of  her,  I  made 
a  vigorous  bite  at  the  fruit  in  passing  her,  an  action  she 
instantly  repeated  on  the  piece  of  soap.  On  another  occasion, 
while  she  was  looking  on  as  I  placed  some  plants  in  drjing 
paper,  not  knowing  that  caterpillars  were  objects  of  supreme 
abhorrence  to  the  natives,  I  flicked  off  in  a  humorous  way 
on  to  her  dress  one  that  happened  to  be  on  a  leaf ;  she  was 


70  A   NATURALISTS    WANDERINGS 

instantly  intensely  lata,  and,  throwing  off  all  her  clothing, 
she  made  off  like  a  chased  deer  along  the  mountain  road, 
repeating  the  word  for  caterj^illar  as  she  ran,  until  compelled 
by  exhaustion  to  stop,  when  the  spasm  gradually  left  her.  My 
own  "  boy,"  who  would  unconcernedly  seize  all  sorts  of  snakes 
in  his  hands,  became  one  day  lata  also,  on  suddenly  touching  a 
large  caterpillar.  My  host's  maid  once,  while  alone  at  some 
distance  from  the  house,  having  come  unexpectedly  on  a  large 
lizard — the  Baiawak — was  seized  by  a  paroxysm ;  dropping 
down  on  her  hands  and  knees  to  imitate  the  reptile,  she  thus 
followed  it  through  mud,  water  and  mire  to  the  tree  in  which 
it  took  refuge,  where  she  was  arrested  and  came  to  herself, 
ilnother  case  which  came  under  my  knowledge  was  more 
tragic  in  its  results.  This  woman,  startled  by  treading  in  a 
field  on  one  of  the  most  venomous  snakes  in  Java,  became  so 
lata  that  she  vibrated  her  finger  in  imitation  of  the  tongue  of 
the  reptile  in  front  of  its  head,  till  the  irritated  snake  struck 
her ;  and  the  poor  creature  died  within  an  hour. 

During  the  attack  the  eyes  have  a  slightly  unnatural  stare, 
but  there  is  never  a  total  loss  of  consciousness,  and  throughout 
the  paroxysm  the  patient  is  wishful  to  get  away  from  the 
object  affecting  her,  yet  is  without  the  strength  of  will  to 
escape  or  to  cease  acting  in  the  way  I  have  described.  Lata 
persons  are  constantly  teased  by  their  fellows,  and  are  often 
kept  in  an  excited  state  for  whole  days. 

In  the  early  mornings  here,  I  was  at  first  constantly  awakened 
by  the  loud  plaintive  wailings  of  a  colony  of  Wau-waus,  one  of 
the  Gihhons  (Hyalohates  leiiciscus)  ironi  the  neighbouring  forest, 
as  they  came  down  to  the  stream  to  drink.  On  first  hearing 
their  cried  one  can  scarcely  believe  that  they  do  not  proceed 
from  a  band  of  uproarious  and  shouting  children.    Their  ''  Woo- 

oo-ut woo-ut woo-oo-ut wut-wut-wut ■  wutwut- 

wut,"  always  more  wailing  on  a  dull,  heavy  morning  previous 
to  rain,  was  just  such  as  one  might  expect  from  the  sorrowful 
countenance  that  is  characteristic  of  this  group  of  the  Quad- 
rumana.  They  have  a  wonderfully  human  look  in  their  eyes  ; 
■  and  it  was  with  great  distress  that  I  witnessed  the  death  of 
the  only  one  I  ever  shot.  Falling  on  its  back  Avith  a  thud  on 
the  ground,  it  raised  itself  on  its  elbows,  passed  its  long  taper 
fingers  over  the  wound,  gave  a  woful  look  at  them,  and  fell 


IN  JAVA.  71 

back  at  full  length  dead — "  saperti  orang  "  (just  like  a  man),  as 
my  boy  remarked.  A  live  specimen  brought  to  me  by  a  native, 
I  kept  in  captivity  for  a  short  time,  and  it  became  one  of  the 
most  gentle  and  engaging  creatures  possible;  but  when  the 
calling  of  its  free  mates  reached  its  prison-house,  it  used  to 
place  its  ear  close  to  the  bars  of  its  cage  and  listen  ^vith  such 
intense  and  eager  wistfulness  that  I  could  not  bear  to  confine 
it  longer,  and  had  it  set  free  on  the  margin  of  its  old  forest 
home.  Strange  to  say,  its  former  companions,  perceiving 
perhaps  the  odour  of  captivity  about  it,  seemed  to  distrust  its 
respectability,  and  refused  to  allow  it  to  mingle  with  them,  I 
hope  that  amid  the  free  woods  this  taint  was  soon  lost,  and 
that  it  recovered  its  pristine  happiness.  The  habits  of  the 
Wau-wau  closely  resemble  those  of  the  Siamang  of  Sumatra. 

Large  stretches  of  the  forest  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood 
of  the  house  w-ere  planted  in  coffee  gardens,  cultivated  not  as 
in  Cevlon  in  the  open  sun,  but  under  moderate  shade  chiefly  of 
the  Erythrina  indica,  in  patches  cleared  out  of  the  forest  some 
distance  isolated  from  each  other  so  as  to  prevent  the  spread, 
if  possible,  of  any  outbreak  of  the  coffee  disease  (Hemileia),  and 
to  give  each  garden  a  chance  of  escape.  Seen  from  the  heights 
above,  these  parterres  scarlet  with  erythrina  flowers,  had  a  very 
brilliant  effect  on  the  landscape.  In  the  newer  gardens  many 
of  the  felled  trees  still  lay  rotting,  and  there  insects  and  birds 
were  in  abundance ;  but  Java  has  been  so  well  collected  over 
by  excellent  entomologists  and  naturalists  for  so  long  a  period 
that  few  novelties  could  be  expected.  Nevertheless,  in  all 
departments,  species  of  interest  were  constantly  falling  under 
my  notice  for  the  first  time. 

I  used  to  place  a  lamp  close  to  my  open  window,  in  hope  of 
attracting  moths  ;  but,  while  very  unsuccessful  in  this  respect, 
I  had  frequent  visits  from  the  smaller  sorts  of  bats,  which,  on 
my  slamming  the  window  to,  were,  though  safely  trapped,  not 
ensnared  within  the  folds  of  my  butterfly  net  without  a  deal 
of  clever  dodging  on  their  part,  and  of  noisy  disturbance  of  fur- 
niture on  mine.  Of  these  one  was  a  very  rare  species,  Calops 
frithii,  and  another  has  been  described  as  new  to  science  by  IMr. 
Oldfield  Thomas,  under  the  name  of  Kerivoula  javana,  a  form 
interniediate  between  the  Thilippine  and  New  Guinean  types. 

For  many  months  after  my  arrival  the  earliest  hours  of  the 


72  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

mornin*^  were  always  resonant  with  the  rich  deep  notes  of  the 
Tjiung  or  Beo,  as  the  Javanese  Grackle  {Gracida  javenensis)  is 
named.  They  used  to  frequent  a  papaya-tree  which  grew  just 
outside  my  window,  whose  fruit  they  are  extremely  fond  of, 
whence  they  poured  forth  their  song  in  the  intervals  of  feed- 
ino-.  This  bird,  which  is  of  a  rich  metallic  blue-black  plumage, 
has  the  nape  of  the  neck  adorned  with  two  deep  orange  lappets, 
and  is  greatly  prized  as  a  pet  by  the  natives,  from  its  deep 
and  ventriloquistic  voice,  its  wonderful  aptitude  in  learning  to 
speak  and  whistle,  and  for  its  comical  ways.  A  very  high  price 
is  often  given  for  a  well-trained  bird,  even  by  the  natives. 
The  Grackle  is  somewhat  difficult  to  rear  at  first,  but  when 
once  accustomed  to  confinement  it  thrives  well — I  have  seen 
one  which  had  been  caged  for  nearly  eighteen  years — especially 
if  a  bamboo  cylinder  be  placed  in  the  cage  for  it  to  creep 
into  at  night,  as,  when  in  freedom,  it  does  into  a  hole  in  a  tree. 

Pink-headed  doves  (Plilopus  2Mrphyreus)  fed  in  flocks  on  the 
figs ;  and  at  3000  feet  I  stumbled  on  a  nestful  of  six  fledg- 
lings of  Fomatorhinus  montanus,  which  were  being  tended,  I 
was  surprised  to  observe,  by  three  parents  ;  but  I  was  unable  to 
satisfy  myself  positively  whether  the  additional  parent  was 
male  or  female ;  my  boy,  however,  who  on  most  subjects  was 
well  informed,  said  that  "  the  female  '  Patjingpayor  '  has  always 
two  husbands." 

No  insect  sooner  attracts  the  observation  of  the  new  comer 
than  the  destructive  carpenter  bees,  XyJocopa,  Avhich  with 
noisy  ostentation  are  incessantly  boring  their  wide  tunnels 
into  the  woodwork  of  every  building.  To  sit  watching  their 
entrance,  and  clay  each  \\j)  in  a  living  tomb  of  its  own 
digging,  was  one  of  the  most  hilarious  amusements  of  the 
boys.  Many  other  species  of  Hymenoptera  attract  atten- 
tion by  their  curious  persistence  in  building  mud-cells  from 
every  hanging  thread,  in  locks  and  hollow  tubes,  and  in  every 
unoccupied  corner,  stocking  them  with  the  caterpillars  and 
spiders  which  is  all  the  store  their  parental  feelings  induce 
them  to  lay  up  for  the  benefit  of  their  progeny.  Jn  the  forest 
the  resemblance  of  their  domiciles  to  their  surroundings  makes 
them  less  easy  to  discover  ;  but  the  accompanying  figure  of 
a  nest  of  one  of  the  EumenidcV  (Zethus  cyanop>terus)  shows 
how  artistic  and  ingenious  some  of  tliese  creatures  are. 


IN  JAVA.  73 

A  colony  of  these  bees  had  covered  the  stems  of  a  species 
of  Asclejnas,  overgrowing  the  face  of  a  high  cliff;  and  it 
took  a  sharp  eye  to  distinguish  their  nests  from  clusters  of 
the  Avithered  leaves  of  the  climber.  Composed  of  chips  of 
leaves  glued  together,  they  were  protected  from  the  rain  by 
a  projecting  roof,  which  for  the  purpose  of  concealment  was 
cunningly  shaped  like  the  foliage  of  the  plant  itself.     There 


NEST   OF   THE    ZETIIVS   CVANOrTERfS. 


was  quite  a  crowd  of  them,  and  as  they  circled  about,  their 
dark  wings  flashing  in  the  sun  as  they  darted  out  and  into 
their  nests,  they  reminded  me  of  swallows  about  a  church 
window. 

Less  obtrusive,  more  destructive,  but  full  of  interest,  are  the 
operations  of  the  various  cohmics  of  termites  or  White-ants. 
It  is  impossible  to  observe  the  habits  of  those  that  bore  in  the 


74  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

interior  of  planks  and  trees ;  but  by  the  species,  that  build  large 
excrescences  on  the  tree-trunks,  one  must  admire  the  specially 
happy  way  in  which  has  been  settled  the  difficult  question  of 
how  to  keep  their  thoroughfares  clean  and  unobstructed,  and 
with  the  least  trouble  dispose  of  the  refuse  of  so  large  a  colony. 
It  is  worth  while  to  break  down  a  portion  of  their  tough  walls, 
to  watch  for  half  an  hour  the  outrush  of  the  city  guards  with 
\\\e\v  2nlielhanhe  heads,  who  with  elevated  antennte  sniff  round 
everywhere  for  the  cause  of  alarm,  charging  about  frantically, 
nodding  and  beating  their  spiked  frontlets  against  the  walls  in 
a  most  threatening  way,  till  they  think  the  danger  past,  when 
they  retire  and  order  out  hordes  of  builders  to  repair  the 
breaches,  who,  distinguished  at  once  by  the  absence  of  a  frontal 
spike,  have  till  then  kept  away  from  the  scene. 

After  a  general  survey  of  the  ruins,  each  worker  retires  to 
fetch  a  small  squarish  chip,  carefully  examines  the  exact  place 
into  which  it  is  to  be  built,  then  applying  to  that  spot  the 
tip  of  its  abdomen,  it  excretes  a  drop  of  a  pale  glutinous  sub- 
stance, places  in  it  the  chip,  and  hammers  it  down  by  the 
combined  application  of  its  maxillse  and  antenna?.  While  the 
building  is  going  on  a  company  of  soldiers  stalk  about  the  walls 
giuxrding  the  workers,  every  now  and  then  tapping  their  heads 
with  the  conscious  air  of  a  constable  reminding  them  that  his 
presence  is  their  safety.  Thus  block  after  block  with  amazing 
rapidity  is  cemented  together,  and  the  sewage  of  the  colony  is 
piled  into  the  odourless  homogeneous  walls  of  their  dwelling. 

I  was  astonished  one  day  in  making  a  sweep  through  a 
swarm,  as  I  thought  of  bees,  which  was  buzzing  overhead,  to 
find  that  it  was  composed  of  flies  called  by  the  natives  Papan- 
tong,  a  species  nearly  related  to  our  common  Blue-bottle. 

Above  the  coffee  gardens  the  heights,  up  to  4000  feet,  were 
clothed  with  virgin  forest,  full  of  noble  giants  of  the  woods. 
In  the  gardens  many  of  the  finest  of  these  trees  had  been 
allowed  to  stand,  where  they  exhibited  all  the  stateliness  and 
grandeur  of  stem  and  crown  which  can  be  fully  appreciated 
only  when  surveyed  at  some  distance  off.  Prominent  for  their 
straight  and  shapely  pillar-like  stems  stand  out  the  Lakka 
{Mijristica  iners),  the  Rasamala  (Liquidamhar  altlngiana),  and 
the  white-stemmed  Kajeput  trees  (Melaleuca  leucadeiidron),  all 
of  them  rising  with  imjjosing  columns,  Avithout  a  branch  often 


IX  JAVA.  75 

for  80  end  sometimes  100  feet.  Of  the  other  stately  trees 
here,  I  noticed  the  Mangosteen  {Garcinia  mangostana)  and 
the  Vernonia  javaniea,  a  member  of  a  family,  the  Composite, 
that  in  our  own  country  never  attains  any  importance  greater 
than  that  of  a  moderate  herb. 

The  season,  however,  was  a  very  unfortunate  one  for  enlarging 
my  herbarium.  Little  over  ten  per  cent,  of  all  the  forest  trees 
in  1879  produced  either  flower  or  fruit.  During  1877  a  great 
scarcity  of  rain  prevailed,  while  in  1878  almost  an  unbroken 
drought  existed  during  the  East-monsoon.  The  parched  sur- 
face of  the  ground  broke  up  into  ravine-like  cracks,  which,  ex- 
tending from  four  to  five  feet  in  depth  and  two  to  three  in 
breadth,  destroyed  great  numbers  of  the  forest-trees  by  en- 
circling and  snapping  off  their  roots.  Shrubs  and  small  trees 
in  exposed  places  were  simply  burned  up  in  broad  patches. 
Flowering  was  almost  entirely  suspended — so  much  so  that  the 
wild  bees  could  produce  no  honey,  which  in  ordinary  years  is 
one  of  the  very  abundant  products  of  the  forests.  Crops  of  all 
kinds  failed,  while  devastating  fires,  whose  origin  could  seldom 
be  traced,  were  so  frequent  in  the  forest  and  in  the  great  alang- 
alang  fields,  that  the  population  lived  in  constant  fear  of 
their  villa2,es  and  even  of  their  lives  and  stock.  It  was  in  vain 
that  the  natives,  following  their  superstitious  rites,  carried  their 
cats  in  procession,  to  the  sound  of  gongs  and  the  clattering 
of  rice  blocks,  to  the  nearest  streams  to  bathe  and  sprinkle 
them  ;  the  rain  after  such  a  ceremony  ought  to  have  come, 
but  it  did  not. 

The  Batavia  Handehllad  states  tlie  loss  in  Java,  consequent 
on  the  drought  of  1878,  to  have  been  on  coffee,  ten  millions 
of  guilders  ;  on  sugar,  seven ;  on  tobacco,  five  ;  and  on  rice 
fifteen — equal  in  all  to  a  loss  in  Englisli  money  of  £3,000,000. 
The  West-monsoon  (November  to  March)  of  1878-9,  memorable 
for  its  excessive  rain,  was  followed  by  an  abnormally  wet  and 
sunless  dry  season,  which  was  almost  as  disastrous  for  the 
cultures  of  the  island  as  its  predecessors  had  been  from 
drought.  The  coffee-trees  produced  abundance  of  flowers,  but 
as  scarcely  a  bee  was  to  be  seen  anywhere,  very  few  of  these 
became  fertilised  or  produced  berries — so  easily  is  the  balance 
of  nature  disturbed.  Later  in  the  season,  however,  the  coffee 
shrubs  produced  a  second  show  of  flowers,  which  in  a  multitude 


76  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

of  cases  did  not  proceed  further  than  knobbed  buds,  the  bulk 
of  which  I  found,  by  marking  and  carefully  examining  them 
every  day,  produced  fruit  without  expanding  their  petals,  or,  to 
use  the  scientific  term,  cleistogamously. 

Marching  in  company  with  these  disastrous  seasons  came 
the  terrible  epidemic  among  the  buffaloes  (the  natives'  stay 
in  the  cultivation  of  their  fields,  and  the  main  part  of  their 
riches),  which  had  not  disappeared  in  the  middle  of  1883, 
being  less  violent  only  from  jjaucity  of  victims.  The  plague 
was  nearly  coincident  with  the  blight — fortunately  net  of  a 
very  severe  nature — of  the  Memileia  vastatrix  in  the  coffee 
gardens.  It  is  a  remarkable  foct  that  the  buffalo  disease 
and  the  HemUeia  appeared  without,  as  far  as  can  be  traced, 
extraneous  contagion,  on  the  Avestern  coasts  of  Sumatra 
(happily  for  that  island  in  a  slight  degree  only),  and  on  the 
extreme  west  of  Java,  whence  it  vaulted  in  most  eccentric 
riot  throughout  the  whole  island.  Not  only  was  the  coffee 
blighted,  but  the  grass  meadows  and  the  forest  trees  also  were 
so  covered,  especially  in  j^laces  with  a  westerly  exposure,  with  a 
fungoid  disease  as  to  become  a  subject  of  native  remark.  One 
could  not  help  suspecting  that  these  noxious  germs  had  been 
brought  by  the  winds,  and  that  perhaps  even  the  plague  in 
the  herds  had  resulted  from  the  blighted  grass  on  which  they 
fed.  The  correctness  of  this  view  seems  to  some  slight  degree 
corroborated  by  the  information  I  subsequently  obtained  from 
natives  and  others  in  various  parts  of  the  Archipelago.  In 
Sumatra,  not  only  the  buffaloes  suffered,  but  the  elephants,  the 
deer  and  the  wild  pigs  died  in  the  forest  in  immense  numbers, 
and,  by  preying  on  the  dying  herds,  even  the  tigers  fell 
victims  to  the  stalking  pestilence.  In  Timor  also,  in  the 
higher  parts  of  the  interior  of  the  island,  the  cattle  were 
attacked,  while  in  the  southern  plains  the  pigs  and  the  horses, 
which  there  run  wild  in  herds,  were  found  scattered  about  in 
the  forest  dead. 

Closely  following  the  bad  years  and  the  bovine  pestilence, 
which  deprived  them  of  the  means  of  cultivating  their  lands, 
came  a  scarcity  bordering  on  famine  and  a  fever  epidemic  of  a 
virulent  kind,  to  which  the  natives  succumbed  in  thousands. 
The  tale  of  the  woes  of  their  province  must  surely  have 
seemed  to  them  full  and  runnins;  over  when  the  volcanic  wave 


IN  JAVA.  77 

from  the  eruption  of  Krakatoa,  in  1883,  overwhelmed  its  sea- 
board and  washed  so  many  of  their  fellows  to  destruction. 

Notwithstanding  the  bad  season,  by  hunting-  far  and  wide 
my  herbarium  grew  slowly  in  bulk,  for,  though  the  great 
trees  were  in  a  very  destitute  condition,  herbaceous  plants 
were  abundant,  and  not  a  few  of  the  smaller  shrubs  and  trees 
had  begun  to  recover  somewhat.  Among  the  most  attractive 
shrubs  were  the  species  of  figs,  of  which  there  was  an  endless 
variety.  The  whole  group  of  the  Artocarpese  is  remarkable 
for  beauty  of  foliage  and  fruit — as  the  hollow  receptacle  in 
which  their  minute  flowers  and  true  fruits  are  developed  is 
often  popularly  called — for  their  striking  habit  and  for  their 
useful  products.  Some  of  them,  as  the  india-rubber  pri^tducing 
waringins  and  kawats  species  of  TJrostigma  {U.  microcarpwn, 
and  consociatum),  are  among  the  giants  of  the  vegetable  world, 
and  its  most  relentless  parasites  and  tyrants.  Brought  by 
some  wandering  bird  or  fruit-eating  quadruped  to  the  cieft  of 
a  high  tree,  the  seed  germinating  drops  down  all  round  its 
host  long  tendril-like  roots,  which  in  a  few  seasons  become 
indissoluble  bonds  that  interlace,  grow  together,  and  cdose  up 
the  tree-stem  that  gave  it  its  support,  till  its  life  is  choked 
out,  and  only  here  and  there,  before  it  finally  disappears,  can  it 
be  seen  through  latticed  apertures,  like  an  Inquisition  martyr 
built  into  the  wall.     The  young  kawat  grows,  shoots  upward 

its  top  and 

"  spreads  lier  arms, 
I'rancliing  so  broad  and  long,  that  on  the  ground 
Tlie  bended  twigs  take  root ;  and  daughters  grow 
About  tlie  niotlier-trce,  a  pillai-ed  shade." 

Less  stately  bui  not  less  beautiful  are  the  shrub  forms,  the 
species  of  Hamplas  {Ficus  microcarpa,  amplas,  and  liolitoria) 
whose  rough  leaves  provide  the  natives  with  ready-made  sand- 
paper ;  the  Ficus  conh'foh'a,  the  Amismata  (Ficus  aspera), 
and  the  Kiliedjo — a  bushy  shrub,  whose  fruit,  always  in 
profusion  along  its  braufhes,  is  when  ripe  of  a  rich  purple 
hue,  and  unripe  of  the  brightest  vermilion  or  carmine  colour, 
in  brilliant  contrast  to  its  dark  foliage;  while  the  semi- 
])arasiti('  climbing  Ficus  rQilicans  delights  to  cling  to  the 
tallest  trees  of  the  forest.  Its  fruit,  which  is  as  large  as  an 
orange,  is  put  forth  throughout  the  whole  extent  of  its  stem  in 
7 


78  A   NATUBALISrS    WANDERINGS 

profuse  abundance,  massed  in  clusters  in  every  stage  of  growth  ; 
and  as  these  in  their  passage  to  maturity  assume  all  the  diffe- 
rent brilliant  hues  by  which  rich  orange  changes  into  the 
sombre  chades  of  purple,  the  effect  against  the  background  of 
the  tree-stem  and  of  its  own  singularly  chaste  foliage  is  strik- 
ing in  the  extreme,  and  is  one  of  these  objects  that  the  eye  can 
meet  every  day  with  renewed  pleasure. 

The  highest  mountain  in  this  neighbourhood  attains  an 
elevation  of  nearly  5000  feet,  and  for  the  last  500  yards  of  its 
ascent  presented  many  interesting  features.  In  producing 
plants  rarely  found  at  so  low  an  elevation  en  higher  moun- 
tains, the  Javan  flora  on  the  pure  volcanic  clay  differs  from 
that  where  the  soil  is  more  overlaid  with  forest  humus. 
Two  ferns,  a  species  of  Gleichenia  and  the  broad-fronded 
Vipteris  horsfieldi — here  at  its  lowest  altitudinal  limit — pro- 
fusely covered  the  ground ;  and,  as  if  stretching  their  utmost 
towards  tlie  heights  where  they  naturally  grow,  rhododendrons 
and  a  beautiful  creeping  species  of  Ericacew  [GauJtheria 
repens)  clothed  the  tops  of  the  tallest  trees.  The  lemon-scented 
laurel  {Tdrmithera  ciirata),  whose  leaves  and  fruit  give  out  a 
sweet  odour  that  can  be  detected  a  long  way  off,  grew  in 
clumps  ;  and  its  fruits,  a  favourite  food  of  the  Bulbuls  and 
the  Bell-birds,  retain  their  perfume  even  after  they  have  been 
dropped  by  these  birds. 

xVt  the  summit  pitcher-plants  {Nepenthes  pliyllampliora) 
appeared  in  profusion,  climbing  up  the  trees  and  running 
over  the  ground  among  the  moss,  out  of  which  peeped  the 
delicate  bright  star-like  flowers  of  the  Agrostemma  montanum, 
which  always  reminded  me  of  the  jiretty  Eurojiean  Chickweed 
Winter-green  (Trientalis  europo&a)  of  our  northern  woods. 
On  one  of  the  lower  knolls  I  found  perhaps  the  most  in- 
teresting plant  in  my  Javan  collection,  a  sj)ecies  of  Petrfea 
(P.  arhorea),  growing  entirely  wild  in  the  forest.  This  genus, 
belonging  to  the  family  of  the  Ycrhenacess,  is  almost  entirely 
confined  to  the  South  American  continent ;  and  it  is  of 
extreme  interest  to  find  it,  in  this  inexplicable  way,  cropping 
uj)  in  a  region  so  far  removed  from  the  centre  of  its  distribu- 
tion. A  species  from  the  island  of  Timor  occurs,  without 
history,  in  the  collection  in  the  British  Museum  made  by 
Mr.  Eobert  Brown  ;  but  these  are  the  only  two  examples,  so 


TBANSVERSE  SECTiox  OF  THE  STEM  OF   Mijrmecodia  tubewsa. 


IN  JAVA,  79 

far  cis  I  am  aware,  liitherto  collected  uncultivated  in  the 
Old  World. 

The  l-lth  of  June  is  to  me  memorable  as  being  the  day 
on  which  for  the  first  time  I  saw  in  its  native  habitat,  and 
gathered  there,  that  most  singular  of  the  vegetable  productions 
of  the  Indian  Archipelago,  the  Myrmecodia  tuherosa  and 
Jlydiioiiliytum  formicarum.  Their  most  striking  characteristic 
w'ill  be  indelibly  marked  in  my  remembrance  by  the  sen- 
sations other  than  mental,  by  which  their  acquaintance  was 
made. 

In  tearing  down  a  galaxy  of  epiphytic  orchids  from  an 
erytiirina  tree,  I  was  totally  overrun,  during  the  short  momen- 
tary contact  of  my  hand  with  the  bunch,  with  myriads  of  a 
minute  species  of  ant  {Fheidoh  javana),  whose  every  bite  Avas  a 
sting  of  fire.  Beating  a  precipitous  retreat  from  the  spot,  I 
stripped  with  the  haste  of  desperation,  but,  like  pepper-dust 
over  me,  they  were  writhing  and  twisting  their  envenomed 
jaws  in  my  skin,  each  little  abdomen  spitefully  quivering  with 
every  thrust  it  made.  Going  back,  when  once  I  had  rid 
myself  of  my  tormentors,  to  secure  the  specimens  I  had 
gathered,  I  discovered  in  the  centre  of  the  bunch  a  singular 
plant  I  had  never  seen  before,  which  I  perceived  to  be  the 
central  attraction  of  the  ants.  It  was  called  Kilang-Txurah  by 
my  boy,  who  said  it  was  the  home  of  the  ants.  I  was  over- 
joyed with  the  revelation  that  a  slice  struck  off  by  my  knife, 
made  of  an  intricate  honeycombed  structure  swarming  with 
minute  ants — a  living  formicarium. 

In  the  space  of  a  short  search  I  found,  generally  high  on 
the  trees,  abundance  of  specimens  of  both  genera,  which,  not 
without  several  futile  attempts  and  many  imprecations  and 
groanings  on  the  part  of  my  boys,  were  brought  to  the  ground  ; 
;ind,  at  the  ends  of  a  pole  over  their  shoulders,  up  which  the 
infuriated  dwellers  would  ascend  to  spread  over  their  bare 
bodies  to  their  frequent  discomfiture,  they  were  at  last  safely 
deposited  in  a  spot  in  ]\[r.  Lash's  garden,  whore  I  could 
examine  them  with  comfort  without  disturbing  their  inhabi- 
tants. 

The  accompanying  representation  (page  80)  represents  the 
general  a])])i'arance  of  the  epiphyte  :  a  spine-covered  bulb 
surmounted  bv  a  cvliiidrical  axis  bearing  leaves  and  minute 


80  A    NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

flowers,  while  the  longitucliual  section  on  the  opposite  page 
shows  the  complicate  system  of  galleries— some  of  them 
papillated  — inhabited  by  the  ants. 

Observing  the  ants  often  employed  in  carrying  out  whitish 
particles,  I  at  first  conjectured  that  the  irritation  of  their 
diorrino-  out  a  dwellino;  must  have  induced  the  swelling  of  the 
bulb ;  and,  curious  to  see  the  modus  operandi  of  its  commence- 
ment, I  decided  to  raise  a  few  of  them  from  seed.  This  turned 
my  attention  to  their  flowers  and  fruit.  The  flowers  are  pro- 
duced in  deep  spine-protected  pits  on  the  axis  surmounting 


YOUNG   PLANT   OF   MYRMECODIA    TfBEROSA. 

the  bulb,  and  are  remarkable  for  the  extreme  rapidity  with 
which  the  cycle  of  their  functional  changes  are  performed. 
The  pellucid  white  flower  appears,  and  is  followed  by  an 
orange,  watery  fruit,  whose  seeds  ripen  and  often  germinate  in 
the  little  pits  where  they  grow,  all  within  the  space  of  thirty- 
six  hours. 

Some  years  later  Dr.  Burck,  of  the  Buitenzorg  Gardens,  most 
kindly  showed  me  specimens  and  microscopic  slides  illustrating 
some  interesting  observations  *  he  had  made  on  these  flowers  : 
that  the  corolla  segments  rarely  open  (though  a  slight  touch 

*  These  have  since  been  published  in  tlie  '  Annales  du  Jardin  Botauique  du 
Buitenzorg,'  vol.  iv.,  p.  16. 


IN  JAVA.  81 

can  effect  it) ;  that  the  pollen  grains  exsert  their  pollen  tubes 
while  still  in  the  anthers ;  and  that  both  the  external  and  the 
internal  surfaces  of  the  lobes  of  the  pistil  are  covered  with 
papillae,  indicating  that  these  surfaces  are  functionally  active. 

I  have  never  observed  these  flowers  approached  by  the  ants 
that  infest  the  interior,  nor  by  any  other  insect,  which  to  gain 
admission  to  the  flower,  even  if  open,  must  be  very  small 
indeed.  The  anthers  and  the  pistil  do  not  seem  to  reach 
maturity  together,  yet  it  would  seem  that  self-fertilisation 
alone  can  take  place ;  perhaps  the  tubes  of  the  pollen  grains 
which  fall  to  the  bottom  of  the  corolla  manage  to  reach  the 
lower  lobes  of  the  pistil  and  produce  fecundation. 

The  seeds  I  planted  germinated  with  great  freedom,  and  I 
cultivated  quite  a  number  of  young  Myrmecodia,  whose  growth  I 
watched  with  the  greatest  interest.  Many  of  tliem  I  kept  quite 
isolated  from  the  interference  not  only  of  the  Plieidole  javana, 
which  seems  to  be  the  only  species  of  ant  which  lives  in  these 
plants  in  their  native  state,  but  of  all  other  species,  and  I  was 
surprised  to  find  that  from  their  very  earliest  appearance  this 
curious  galhried  structure  arose  without  the  ]jresence  of  the 
ants,  and  that  the  plants  continued  to  grow  and  thrive  vigo- 
rously in  their  absence  as  long  as  I  cultivated  them.  Some 
bulbs  had  a  single  canal  reaching  to  their  centre  from  a  round 
orifice  opening  generally  close  to  the  little  tap-root ;  others 
presented  one  or  two  loculi  in  the  interior,  without  any 
communication  at  first  with  the  exterior, 
partially  full  of  a  spongy  substance  look- 
ing like  its  own  degenerated  tissue.  These 
chambers  invariably  developed  a  spongy 
pith — which  in  a  secti(m  it  was  not  diffi- 
cult to  trace  out  in  advance  in  the  still 
fleshy  substance — towards  and  to  open  at 

,  *.  ,  .,  ,         ■  /«     YOVNd    5IYKMEC0DIA,    AKD 

last  at  one  or  more  spots  on  tlie  exterior  ot  section  of  a  toMEWHAT 
the  bulb.  Secondary  galleries,  arising  in  oldek  one. 
the  same  manner  as  the  primary,  soon  formed  communicating 
channels,  extending  with  age,  throughout  the  whole  of  the 
growing  bulb.  At  a  later  period,  in  Amboiua,  where  the 
Myrmecodia  and  the  Ili/dnophijtum  were  very  abundant,  I 
found  many  specimens  containing  a  large  central  and  quite 
isolated  chamber  full  of  water — not  rain-water — round  which 


82  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


radiated  the  galleries  tenanted  by  ants  and  their  larvae  of  the 
same  species  as  in  Java. 

Since  my  original  observations,  Dr.  IMelchior  Treub,  Director 
of  the  Botanic  Gardens  in  Buitenzorg,  has  conducted  and  pub- 
lished *  a  series  of  important  researches  into  the  development 
of  these  bizarre  plants,  which  have  confirmed  generally  the 
observations  I  had  made,  and  have  proved  besides  that  what 
I  have  called  degeneration  is  the  result  of  a  transformation 
into  corh  of  the  tissue  of  the  plant ;  which,  becoming  entirely 
dried  up,  gradually  extends  the  galleries  towards  the  exterior, 
when  the  fluffy  mass  disappears  or  is  carried  out  by  the  ants. 

Notwithstanding  these  researches  it  remains  still  a  mysteiy 
what  causes  the  development  of  these  corky  cells,  what  advan- 
tage the  plant  derives  from  its  unusual  structure,  and  what  is 
the  mutual  benefit  of  this  close  relation  between  insect  and 
plant.  That  the  ants  should  so  persistently  infest  and  yet 
derive  no  advantage  beyond  accommodation  from  the  plant, 
seems  unlikely  ;  it  is  probable  however  that  the  papillne  in 
tlie  galleries,  whose  function  is  still  an  enigma,  may  afford  some 
nourishment  to  them,  but  that  the  insects  are  not  absolutely 
indispensable  to  the  perfect  performance  of  the  functions  of  the 
plant  is  certain  from  Dr.  Treub's  observations.  He  suggests  that 
they  perhaps  ward  off  enemies  from  the  plant,  or  that  they  may 
remove,  for  their  own  nourishment,  injurious  excretions  from 
the  papillae  of  these  channels  whose  office  may  be  to  distribute 
air  through  the  fleshy  mass  of  the  bulb.  Altogether  these 
Mijrmecodia  are  among  the  most  singular  of  vegetable  pro- 
ductions, showing  us  how  much  we  have  yet  to  learn  of  the 
intricate  processes  of  nature. 

I  gathered  here  another  interesting  specimen  in  some 
leaves  of  the  Bryopliyllum  cdlijciniim.  As  is  well  known,  the 
marginal  notches  of  the  leaves  of  this  plant,  when  laid  on  the 
ground  or  in  a  damp  place,  produce  buds  which  develop  into 
new  plants.  In  the  leaves  I  gathered  here,  however,  complete 
flowers  and  fruit  were  produced  directly  from  the  notches. 

Yv'hile  botanising  in  Portugal,  in  the  spring  of  lS77,t  I  was 
remarkably  struck  by  the  number  of  orchids  I  gathered  that 

*  In  the  *  Annales,'  sup.  cit..  vol.  iii.,  pp.  130-157,  from  which  the  accom- 
panying figures  here  reproduced  are  taken, 
t  Nature,  vol.  xvi.  p.  1C2. 


IN  JAVA.  83 

seemed  never  to  have  had  an  effective  visit  paid  them  by  any 
of  the  crowd  of  bees,  butterflies,  and  beetles,  among  which 
tliey  blossomed.  They  were  mostly  terrestrial  species,  ophrys 
chiefly,  and  were  some  of  them  handsome,  and  very  sweetly 
scented  ;  yet  they  might  as  well  have  wasted  their  sweetness 
on  the  desert  air,  for  scarcely  any  of  them  ever  lost  their  pollen 
masses,  or  had  these  fertilising  grains  applied  to  their  own 
stigmas.  Since  then  I  have  carefully  examined  all  orchids 
that  1  have  encountered,  and  have  been  surprised  at  the 
immense  numbers  which — possessing  brilliant,  small,  and  not 
seldom  even  large  flowers,  often  highly  perfumed — never  or 
very  rarely  produce  seed  capsules,  but  which  blossom  and 
fall  without  benefiting  in  any  way  their  race.  At  Kosala  I 
was  able  to  continue  my  observations  both  on  those  growing 
naturally  in  the  forest  as  well  as  on  those  I  reared  in  Mr.  Lash's 
garden,  where,  after  once  taking  to  the  trees  they  were  as 
nearly  as  possible  under  natural  conditions.  The  Cymhidium 
tricolor  produces  flower-spikes  often  attaining  a  length  of 
nearly  four  feet,  studded  with  florets  whi^h  are  rather  sombre 
in  colour;  yet  it  could  scarcely  be  passed  without  attracting 
admiration.  Of  the  florets  of  several  plants  I  counted,  seventy- 
nine  per  cent,  had  their  pollinia  intact,  after,  to  all  appearance, 
having  been  exposed  for  a  long  time,  and  of  those  that  had 
lost  their  pollinia  not  one  stigmatic  surface  had  pollen  grains 
applied  to  it.  On  another  occasion  the  whole  of  the  florets 
examined  were  unvisited  ;  while  on  a  third  occasion  eighty- 
nine  per  cent,  of  the  florets  examined  had  their  })olIinia  safe  in 
the  anthers,  nine  per  cent,  being  damaged,  either  having  lost 
their  labellum  or  having  the  column  eaten  by  the  larv^ns  of  a 
species  of  Coccinellidm.     One  alone  was  fructified. 

I  gathered  the  rather  rare  Cymhidium  stapelioides,  growing 
at  a  height  of  2600  feet  above  the  sea,  flowering  on  a  fallen 
tree.  I  brought  it  home,  1000  f(n^t  lower,  and  fixed  it  to  a  tree- 
stem,  to  which  it  at  once  took  kindly.  None  of  the  flowers 
which  were  expanded  when  I  found  it  wore  fertilised ;  but  one 
of  the  bulbs  had  a  stem  with  a  solitary  capsule.  For  three 
weeks  the  plant  remained  in  the  condition  in  which  I  found 
it,  its  largo  and  handsome,  though  somewhat  dull-coloured, 
flowers  retaining  their  perfect  freshness  during  all  this  eriod. 
I  then  took  compassion  on  its  barren  state,  and  fcrtilisetl  from 


84  A   NATUBALISrS    WANDERINGS 

their  neighbours  four  of  its  florets.  These  alone  of  the  sixteen 
flowers  bore  fruit.  A  couple  of  months  later  a  fine  new  spike 
appeared,  which  I  left  to  its  own  resources.  For  between  four 
and  five  weeks  it  exhibited  a  very  fine  tross  of  twelve  flowers ; 
but  not  one  seed-capsule  was  produced.  The  insect  life  at  the 
lower  station  seemed  quite  as  abundant  as  at  the  higher. 
This  orchid  possesses  no  nectary,  and  its  odour,  if  not 
pleasant,  is  not  disagreeable.  The  viscid  disk  of  its  pollinia 
is  remarkable  for  its  elasticity.  After  removing  a  pollen 
mass  from  the  anther,  I  applied  it  to  the  stigma  of  another 
floret,  and  on  withdrawing  the  pencil  to  which  it  was  ad- 
heriug,  it  sprang  back  witli  an  audible  snap,  the  viscid  disk 
stretching  quite  one-eighth  of  an  inch,  without  leaving  pollen 
on  the  stigma,  for  the  floret  did  not  set  a  capsule.  The  same 
result  followed  after  allowing  the  pollen  to  remain  for  some 
seconds  in  contact  with  the  stigmatic  surface.  After  the  lapse 
of  a  w  eek  the  viscid  disk  still  retained  its  elasticity  unimpaired, 
so  much  so  that  I  was  able  to  extend  it  as  often  as  ten  times 
for  various  distances  up  to  nearly  one-fifth  of  an  inch  before; 
the  connection  gave  way — a  sharp  snap  always  accompanying 
its  relaxation. 

One  of  the  prettiest  and  commonest  orchids  here  was  a  pure 
white  Dendrobium  (D.  cramenatum),  which  suddenly  appears 
in  flower  on  all  the  trees  of  a  district  nearly  on  the  same  day. 
I  have  examined  many  hundreds  of  flowers,  and  I  am  quite 
sure,  though  I  have  not  kept  very  accurate  statistics  of  the 
numbers,  that  not  one  in  eighty  ever  sets  a  seed  capsule. 

Growing  terrestrially  in  abundance  in  damp  shady  situa- 
tions is  another  group  of  this  family  belonging  to  the  genus 
Calanthe.  Calanthe  veratrifulia  produces  quite  a  dense  head 
of  elegant  white  flowers,  but  the  number  of  those  that  become 
fertilised  are  in  enormous  disproportion  to  those  that  fall  off 
barren.  I  have  examined  plants  in  numerous  localities,  in 
heights  amid  the  dense  forest,  as  well  as  in  more  open 
situations  ;  I  have  studied  them  low  down,  both  in  the  sun  and 
in  the  deep  shade,  but  have  invariably  found  that  a  very 
small  proportion  produces  fruit.  Generally  the  pollinia  are 
found  in  the  anther  after  the  fall  of  the  flower ;  but  often  they 
are  absent,  without  any  pollen  being  left  in  return  on  the 
stigma.     In  five  different  plants,  out  of  360  florets  examined, 


IN  JAVA.  85 

109  were  withering  with  intact  anthers,  or  had  lost  their  pol- 
len and  were  unfertilised,  245  hud  fallen  off,  six  only  had 
produced  capsules.  These  arc  not  selected  instances,  but  the 
result  of  the  examination  of  five  plants  as  they  occur  in  my 
note-book.  I  have  several  times  found  in  various  species  of 
Calanthe,  specimens  which  at  first  I  thought  to  be  deisto- 
f/amoushj  fertilised,  where  the  ovules  were  enlarged  in  the 
ovary,  and  the  flowers  quite  open ;  but  close  examination  has 
shown  tliat  this  is  the  eifect  of  the  irritation  of  a  small  species 
of  Hymenoptera — a  cynips  probably. 

Mr,  Darwin,  in  his  'Fertilisation  of  Orchids,'  enumerates 
but  four  instances  of  self-fertilisation  as  coming  under  his 
observation,  namely  :  in  Ophrys  apifera,  by  the  falling  forward 
of  its  own  pollinia,  which  are  then,  by  the  agency  of  the  wind, 
brought  into  contact  w\th  the  stigma — the  plant  being  capable 
also  of  cross  fertilisation  ;  in  Peristylis  viridis,  which  is  pos- 
sible to  be  self-fertilised  by  its  own  pollen  from  the  head  of 
the  visiting  insect;  in  Cephalanthera  grandijiora,  which  is 
perpetually  self-fertilised  by  its  pollen  grains  that  rest  against 
the  upper  sharp  edge  of  the  stigma  thrusting  down  their 
pollen  tubes  into  the  ovary  ;  lastly,  Bendrohium  clirysanthum, 
which  may  possibly  be  self-fertilised  by  its  own  peculiar  acro- 
batic pollen.  In  the  additional  instances  here  given,  some 
will  be  found  to  be  singular  and  different,  I  believe,  from 
any  hitherto  recorded.* 

The  genus  Phajus  is  an  excoedingly  handsome  and  attrac- 
tive coterie  of  orchids  growing  in  open  and  sunny  places, 
throwing  up  from  their  large  broad  root  leaves,  stout  erect 
flower-stalks,  one  and  a-half  to  two  feet  in  height,  crowded 
with  florets.  The  expanded  sepals  of  PJuijus  Blumei  mea- 
sure laterally  from  tip  to  tip  twelve  to  iourteen  centimetres. 
Their  external  margins  are  white  and  interiorly  rich  chest- 
nut brown ;  the  labellum  is  of  a  beautiful  bright  imrplc 
magenta  colour,  margined  with  yellowish  white.  Its  fringed 
mouth  forms  a  broad  landing-stage  for  passing  insects,  for 
whose  benefit  brightly  coloured  ridges  point  the  way  in  vain 
to  the  nectary,  as,  unfortunately  for  the  visitor,  it  rarely  cou- 

*  From  here  to  the  top  of  page  00  may  be  luitsecl  over  by  the  general 
rcaJcr  not  interested  in  tliis  bubject  made  so  Ai^cinatiug  by  tl-e  .studies  cf 
Mr.  Darwin  given  in  the  vohimo  referred  to  above. 


86 


A   NATURALIST'S   WANDERINGS 


tains  any  nectar.  The  column,  embraced  by  the  labelliim,  is 
massive,  expanding  into  a  stigma  eleven  millimetres  broad, 
secreting  an  abundance  of  viscid  matter,  crowned  with  the 
anther  and  its  pollen,   whose  caudicles,  composed  of  pollen 


FIG.  ]. — rH/»JVS  BI.rMEI,  SHOWING  AN- 
THER WITH  PCLI  INIA  KEMOVED  ; 
C,  &TIGMA  ;  F,  BASE  OF  ANTHER  ; 
0,   ROsTELLVjr. 

\llie  fdUoxcimj  figures  arc  all  slightly 
diagrammatic.^ 


FIG.    2. — PHAJUS   BLVJIET,    SHOWING    THE 
rOLLlNIA         AVALANCHED  DOWN- 

■\VAED3,  CARRYING  WITH  THEM  THE 
K0STELLE3I,  G  ;  A,  ANTHER-CAP  ;  T, 
SWOLLEN  POLLINIA ;  C,  STIGMA  ; 
E,  TIP   OF   CAUDICLES    OP  I'OLLINIA. 


grains,  protrude  their  tips  from  beneath  the  anther-cap.  I  exa- 
mined more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  flowers  of  P.  Blumei, 
but  I  did  not  find  one  that  was  not,  or  could  be  otherwise  than, 
self-fertilised.  Its  essential  organs  exist  in  two  forms,  slightly 
but  interestingly  different. 


FIG.  3. — BCD  OF  PHAJUS  BLUMEI,  SHOW- 
ING POLLINIA  IN  ERECT  POSITION; 
A,  ANTHER-CAP  ;  B,  POLLINIA  ;  C, 
STIGMA  ;    P,  MEDIAN  RIDGE. 


FIG.  4. — LONGITU  INAL  SECTION  OP 
COLUMN  OF  PHAJUS  BLUMEI  (SIDE 
view)  ;  A,  V,  C,  D,  AS  IN  FIG.  3 ; 
I,   BOUNDARY    OF   STIGMA. 


Flowers  of  the  first  form  have,  arching  over  the  deejD  and 
covered  stigma,  a  well-developed  tongue-shaped  projection  or 
rostellum,  on  which  lie  the  caudicles  of  the  pollinia,  which 
have  no  viscid  disk  (Fig.  1).  On  each  side,  tlie  rostellum 
leaves  between  itself  and  the  external  walls  of  the  column  a 


IN  JAVA. 


87 


narrow  channel  by  which  the  viscid  matter  of  the  stigma 
reaches  the  anther.  In  examining  an  advanced  bud,  the  viscid 
matter  of  the  stigma  is  seen  to  be  in  hirge  quantity  and  rather 
liquid.  It  increases  with  the  growth  of  the  flower  till  it 
overflows, — often  before  the  bud  opens — and,  immediately  on 
its  opening,  inundates  the  pollinia,  which  now  increase  in  size, 
and  either  avalanc^he  downwards,  sometimes  quite  obliterating 
the  rostellum  (Fig.  2,  p.  86) ;  or,  while  retaining  their  position 
in  the  anther,  emit  their  tubes  over  the  narrower  portion  of 
the  rostellum  into  the  stylary  canal.  Very  often  both  anther 
and  stigma  become  quite  filled  up  by  the  multitude  of  pollen- 
tubes  and  by  the  swollen  pollinia.  All  these  plants  produced 
large    and    well-filled   seed-capsules  on   every  flower ;    but  I 


0. — FHAJIS  BLUMET,  SHOWING  THE 
AXTHEi;  EOTATED  1  0WXWAKD3  ;  A, 
C,  A3  IN  FIG.  3. 


G. — 1  HA  JUS  liLVSJET,  SHOWING  A 
MOKE  ADVANCED  STAGE  THAN  FIG.  5  ; 
THE  ANTHER-CAP  A,  HAS  OlENEIl  ; 
B,  SWOLLEN  POLLINIA  ;  C,  E,  AS  IN 
FIG.  2;    K,  TIP    OF    ANTHEU-CAP. 


never  saw  an  insect  visit  the  plants  during  all  my  observations, 
although  the  i)lants  were  situated  where  I  could  inspect  them 
constantly  throughout  the  day  or  night. 

Of  flowers  of  the  second  form,  I  examined  many  more  examples. 
Here  there  is  no  rostellum,  nevertheless  the  boundaries  of  the 
stigma  are  quite  distinct  (Figs.  3,  4,  p.  86).  On  examining  a 
young  hud,  the  anther  (enclosing  the  pollinia)  is  seen  standing 
vertically  erect  on  the  top  of  the  column — i.e.  of  the  detached 
column,  without  reference  to  its  position  in  the  flower — forming 
as  it  were  a  pointed  extension  of  it,  and  attached  to  it  by  its 
minute  fihiment.  As  the  flower  progresses  in  growth,  the  anther- 
cap  ruptures  and  rotates  forward.  AVhen  it  has  descended 
through  about  90",  it  occupies  (Fig.  5)  the  position  which,  if  it 
possessed  a  rostellum,  it  would  naturally  retain ;  but,  having 


88  A    NATURALISTS    WANDERINGS 

none,  it  continues  to  rotate  through  about  70'  more,  till  it 
comes  into  contact  with  the  face  of  the  column,  that  is  with 
the  stigmatic  cavity,  which,  is  very  large,  broad  and  full  of  viscid 
matter  (Fig.  6).  The  whole  surface  of  the  lower  four  pollinia 
come  into  contact  with  the  viscid  matter  and  sink  well  into  it, 
while  the  viscid  matter  finds  its  way  gradually  about  all  of 
the  pollinia.  The  inner  members  of  the  upper  row  of  pollinia 
sometimes  escape  this  inundation,  but  it  seems  of  little  avail  to 
the  plant  for  its  cross-fertilisation,  for  they  remain  throughout 
covered  by  the  anther-cap.  The  tips  of  the  caudicles,  how- 
ever, remain  in  most  cases  unaffected  throughout,  but  I  have 
found  it  difficult  to  remove  any  of  their  pollen  grains.  The 
inundated  pollinia  have  no  obstacles  to  bar  the  way  of  their 
tubes  to  the  ovary.     On  clearing  out  with  a  blunt  instrument 


F  G.  7. — PHAJL'S  BLOIEI,  SAME  AS  FIG.  6,         FIG.  8. — PHAJIS  BLVMET,  SHOWING  EXTRA 
WITH  ANTHER-CAP  JIEREI.Y  DOTTED  ANTHER,  H  ;  A,  B,  C,  AS  IN  PREVIOUS 

IN  ;  A,  B,  C,  AS  IN  PREVIOUS  FIGURES.  FIGURES. 


the  swollen  pollinia  from  the  stigma,  it  can  be  seen  that  from 
nearly  the  top  of  the  column,  along  the  posterior  median  line,  a 
prominent  ridge  (Fig.  3,  p.  86)  runs  down  almost  to  the  ovarium. 
In  the  light  afforded  by  the  dissection  of  an  Arundina  speciosa 
(to  be  mentioned  below)  this  would  appear  to  represent  the 
absent  rostellum.  Large  seed-capsules  were  produced  by  every 
flower  of  this  form.  This  Phajus  is  also  remarkable  for  pro- 
ducing, at  times  two,  supernumerary  anthers  on  the  top  of  the 
column  one  on  each  side  of  the  normal  anthers  (Fig.  8). 

Here  then  we  have  an  orchid  whose  flowers  present  every 
attraction  to  insects  to  pay  at  least  a  first  visit  (when  they 
would  find  no  nectar),  all  of  them  gay,  with  a  nectary,  and 
a  beautifully  painted  and  finger-posted  labellum,  yet  rarely 
possible  to  be  anytliing  but  self-fertilised. 


IX  JAVA. 


89 


I  have  examined  other  species  of  the  genus,  and  found  them 
to  be  fertilised  in  almost  identically  the  same  manner. 

A  not  uncommon  orchid  by  the  sides  of  second-growth 
forest  or  banks  of  streams   over  all  the  Archipelago,  is   the 


FIG.  9.— SPATIIOGLOTTIS  PLICATA  (FROXT 

view);  a. anther-cap;  b.pollixia; 

C,     CAUDICLES      OF     rOLLIXfA ;       D, 
STIGMA  ;    E,    FRONT    OF   COLUMX  ;    F, 

TIP  OF  anther-cap;  g,   flap   OF 

MARGIN  OF  STIGMA. 


— e, 


f:g.  10. — spathoglottis  ilicata  Cside 
view),  when  anther  has  rotated 
downwards;  a,  c,  e,  f,  g,  as  in 
fig.  9  ;  h,  kustellim. 


white  or  purple  terrestrial  orchid  Spatlioglottis  plicala,  BL, 
whose  method  of  fertilisation  differs  from  that  of  the  Phajus. 
Its  pollinia  lie  in  a  rather  deep  anther,  which  runs  out  into  a 


11.  —  SPATIIOGLOTTIS  PLICATA, 

LOXGITIDINAL  SECTION  (SIDE  VIEW); 
A,  C,  E,  F,  II,  AS  IN  PREVIOIS 
figure;  B,  POLLINIA.  [|)IAGI!AM- 
MATIC.j 


12. SPATHOGLOTTIS  PLICATA. 

(frost  view),  Willi  THE  ANTHEK 
ROTATED  DOWN  OVER  THE  STIGMA; 
LETTEHS  SAME  AS  IN  PREVIOIS 
FIGURES. 


long  shai-j)  triangular  rostellum  far  overarching  the  stigma 
(Figs.  10, 11).  The  pollinia-caudicles,  composed  of  pollen  grains, 
l)r()tru(h!  from  l);dow  the  anther  case  and  lie  on  the  rostidlum, 
projecting  a  little  beyond  its  tip,  as  seen  in  the  lateral  view  of 


90 


A   NATURALIST'S    WANDEBINGS 


the  longitudinal  section,  Fig.  10.  The  stigma  is  triangular, 
with  its  apex  downwards.  There  is  no  nectary.  The  stigmatic 
substance  becomes  viscid  even  in  the 
young  bud  ;  and  as  soon  as  the  anther  has 
rotated  into  its  normal  position,  it  begins  to 
increase  in  quantity — the  increase  is  often 
so  great  that  it  bulges  out  in  front  of  the 
rim  of  the  stigma — and,  swelling  up,  flows 
over  into  the  anther  by  the  canals  (seen  in 
Fig.  15),  between  the  column  and  the  edge 
of  the  rostellum.  Even  before  the  opening 
of  the  flower  I  have  found  the  external 
pollen  masses  on  each  side  bathed  with 
the  stigmatic  fluid,  and  already  exserting 
their  tubes.  These  descend  by  the  grooves 
I  have  mentioned  on  both  sides  to  the 
stylary  canal.  Concomitant  with  the  flood- 
ing of  the  anther  there  has  been  taking  place  a  slow  approxi- 
mation of  the  under  side  of  the  rostellum  to  the  lower  lip  of 
the  stio-ma,  till  its  lobes  finally  embrace  the  rostellum,  bind- 
ing  down  the  whole  anther  (Figs,  l!>,  12),  so  that  when  the 


FIG.  13. — SrATHOGLOTTIS 
I'LICATA  SAME  A3  FIG.  12, 
KUT  WITH  ANTHEU-CAP 
RE3I0VED  ;  B,  C,  G,  AS  IN 
FIG.    12. 


■JB- 


FIG,  14. — SPATHOGLOTTIS  PLICATA(fROXT 

VIEW)     diagkammatic,      showing 

KOCTE  TO  THE  STYLARY  CANAL 
TAKEN  BY  POLLEN  TUBES,  li"  ;  A,  B, 
C,    F,    AS    IN    FIG.    10. 


F:G.  15. — SP.\THOGLOTTIS  PLICATA  ;  THE 
APEX  OP  THE  COLL-MN,  WITH  THE 
POLLINIA  EEMOVLD  ;  SHOWING  THE 
MARGINAL  CANALS  BETWEEN  THR 
C0LU3I.>C-WALL  AND  'J  HE  FLOOU,  I,  OF 
THE    anther;    H,  the    ROSTELLUM, 


act  of  fertilisation  has  been  completed  the  stigma  is  almost 
obliterated,  leaving  no  room  for  any  foreign  pollen  to  be 
applied  to  its  surface.  The  direction  taken  by  the  pollen 
tubes  is  shown  somewhat  diagrammatically  in  Fig.  11,  The 
pollen  grains  of  the  caudicles  of  the  pollinia  remain  as  a  rule 
unaffected,  but,   not   being  at  all  viscid,  they  are  not  easily 


IN  JAVA. 


91 


removable.     The  operations  here  described  are  oftea  completed 
before  the  opening  of  the  Spatlioglottis  at  all. 

Of  the  orchids  I  gathered  here  none  interested  me  more 


FIG.  16. — ARCXDIXA    SPECIOSAj    A,   B,    E,         FIG.    17. — AKUXIjIXA      SI  ECIOiSA     I^HVD)  ; 

AS  FIG.  17 ;  c,  rrPER  margix,  and  a,  top  of  crest  of  axther-cap  ; 

D,     LOWER      and     side     FLAPS     OF  B,  POLLIXIA ;   D,  LOWKIJ   3IARGIN'   OF 

STIG3IA.  STIGMA  ;     E,   STIGMA  ;     F,   FROXT   OF 

COLUMX. 

than  the  Arundina  spsciosa,  Bl.  This  cane-like  species  grows 
to  a  height  of  between  five  and  six  feet,  ])roducing  without 
intermission  for  many  months  a  succession  of  large  and 
beautiful  purple  flowers.     The  labellum  is  tubular,  and  has  a 


FIG.  18. — ARINDIXA  SPLCI03A  SHOWING 
ANTIIEU  QIITE  ROTATED  INTO 
GTIGMA  ;.D,  I.OWEIt  FLAPS  OF  STIGMA 
CLOSING  DOWN  ANTHER-CAP ;  A,  F, 
AS   IN   FIG.    17. 


FIG.  19. — AUtNDINA  SPECIOSA  SHOWING 
POLLINIA  ROTATED  INTO  STIGMA 
AND  THE  FRONT  OF  COLCMN,  F, 
lUIIST  ■WITH  SWOLLEN  POLLEN 
TIDES.       ANTHER-CAP    REMOVEP. 


broad  fringed  dark  purple  margin,  from  which  radiate  deeper 
lines  converging  towards  the  bright  yellow  throat,  where  they 
merge  in  two  ridges  leading  to  the  shallow  nectar-depression 
at  the  base  of  tlie  column. 

In  the  very  young  bud  (Fig.  IG)  the  column  is  crowned  with 


92 


A   NATURALISrS    WANDEBINGS 


its  anther  erect  on  the  posterior  part  of  the  column.  Underneath 
is  the  stigma,  of  a  roughly  square  shape,  its  upper  rim  standing 
erect  in  front  of  the  pollinia,  rising  to  about  one  third  of  their 
height  as  atriangular  eminence,  which  corresponds  with  the  front 
margin  of  the  rostellar  platform.  It  is  not  in  every  flower  that 
the  shape  of  the  stigma  can  be  seen  well,  for  the  stage  presently 
to  be  described  begins  very  soon,  often  before  the  flower  is 
expanded  ;  and  only  by  the  examination  of  a  very  large  series 
have  I  been  able  to  follow  the  modifications  that  have 
occurred. 

Concurrent   with    or   even    before    the    commencement    of 
the  rotation  of  the  anther  into  its  normal  position  some  in- 


FIO.  20. — ARUKDINA  SPECIOjA,  SHOWIXG 
A  SECTION  OF  COLUJIN  OPENED  FliOM 
BEHIND  ;  C,  TOP  OF  UPPER  MAR- 
GIN  OF    STIGMA    (COURESrONDING  TO 

F.C8rELLrM);c-,poi;TioN  OF  stigma; 

G,    STYLAIiY    CANAL. 


FIG.  21. — ARLNDINA  SPEC:OSA,  BID  SHOW- 
ING THE  IPPER  KIM  OF  STIGMA 
ALREADY  INVERTED  DOWN  THE 
STYLAItY'  canal;  LETTERS  AS  IN 
FIG.  17. 


fluence — ^which  I  do  not  know—  causes  the  upper  margin  of  the 
stigma  to  become  inverted  close  down  the  posterior  wall  of  the 
stylary  canal,  as  seen  in  Fig.  17,  and  in  longitudinal  section 
opened  from  heliind  in  Fig.  20,  where  the  rostellum  is  seen  hang- 
ing down  the  canal  as  a  narrow  band.  Fig.  21  rej)resents  a  very 
young  bud,  in  which,  thongh  the  pollinia  had  scarcely  begun 
to  rotate,  the  stigma  had  become  already  much  modified,  and  is 
in  waiting  for  the  rotation  of  the  pollinia.  Along  with  this  in- 
vagination of  the  upper  margin  of  the  stigma  (the  rostellum)  its 
lower  lip  is  in  consequence  dragged  (?)  upwards.  Dissections 
of  the  column  showed  that  the  rostellum  goes  on  elongating 
down  the  stylary  canal,  as  in  Fig.  20,  while  the  pollinia,  slowly 
continuing  to  rotate  downwards,  finally  precipitate  them- 
selves into  the  stigma,  whose  flap-like  margins  embrace  the 


IN  JAVA. 


93 


anther-cap,  as  seen  in  Fig.  18  and  in  19,  where  the  anther-cap 
is  removed. 

On  the  conclusion  of  these  singular  movements  no  remains 
of  the  stigma  can  be  seen.  As  a  rule  these  operations  are  con- 
cluded before  the  full  expanding  of  the  flower,  whose  petals, 
after  remaining  expanded  for  only  a 
few  hours,  fade,  and,  closing  round  the 
column,  exclude  any  intruder  from  dis- 
turbing the  interesting  and  mysterious 
rites  of  nature  being  enacted  within. 
I  have  found  that  in  some  cases  the 
rostellum  (the  upper  margin  of  the 
stigma)  is  not  invaginated  down  the 
stylary  canal,  but  retains  the  more 
natural  orchideal  form  of  a  broad  flat 
floor  to  the  anther,  projecting  far  over 
the  stio^ma  as  seen  in  Fijs:.  22.  When 
the  flower  of  Arundina  speciosa  has  this 
rare  form  it  invariably,  as  far  as  my 
observations  enable  me  to  speak,  falls  off  unfertilu'ed.  The 
pollinia  also  lie  far  back  in  the  anther,  and  are  entirely  con- 
cealed by  the  anther-case,  which  fits  close  down  all  round.  An 
insect,  to  secure  the  pollinia,  would  require  to  alight  on  the 


FIG.  22. — .\RUXD1XA  SPECIOSA, 
SHOWING  THE  SECOND  FORM 
OF  FLOWER;  E,  F,  AS  IN 
FIG.  16  ;  I,  RIDGE  OX  FLOOK 
OFAXTHEU  H;  K,  BOVXDARY 
OF    ANTHER-CAP. 


FIG.  23 


FIGS.  23  AND  24. — ERIA  SP.,  NEAR  TO  E.  J.WENSIS  ;  A,  ANTHER-CAP,  IN  FIG.  23, 
SHRIVELLED  IP;  B,  POLLINIA;  u",  POLLINIA  SWOLLEN  AFTER  FALLING  INTO 
STIGMA  ;    D,    ROSTELLUM  ;     E,    STIGMA. 


margin  of  the  rostelhir  platform  and  lift  up  the  anther  case,  a 
difficult  operation,  which  supposing  it  to  have  successfully 
accomplished,  it  might  wander  far  to  find  a  stigma  to  apply 
the  pollen  so  obtained  to,  for  its  own  form  of  organs  does  not 

8 


94 


A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


probably  occur  on  a  second  floret  of  its  own  species,  within  a 
wide  area.  Flowers  with  this  conformation,  however,  remain 
expanded  and  fresh  for  several  days,  in  marked  contrast  to 
those  of  the  first  form,  which  close  up  in  a  very  few  hours. 

In  the  median  line  of  the  upper  surface  of  the  rostellum 
there  is  a  well-marked  ridge  (Fig.  22)  which  runs  out  to  the  tip 
to  form  the  central  promontory  of  the  rostellum.  In  describing 
Phajus  Blumei  I  remarked  that  there  existed  on  the  back  of  the 
stigma  a  prominent  ridge  running  down  nearly  to  the  ovary. 
Now  if  we  were  to  suppose  the  ridged  rostellum  of  Arundina 
to  become  adherent  to  the  back  of  the  stigma  instead  of 
hanging  down  free,  we  should  have  such  a  ridge  as  is  seen  in 


FIG.  25. 

riG.    25. — CHRTSOGLOSSUM   SP.      THE    FIG.  OV  THE   LEFT  REPRESENTS  TWO  FLORETS 
ON   FLOWER   STEM  ;    THAT    OX  THE   RIGHT   ONE   CLEISTOGAllOCSLY    FEKTILISED. 


Phajus ;  so  that  it  is  probable  that  the  ridge  in  the  latter 
plant  may  be  the  remnant  of  its  rostellum  adherent  to  the 
back  of  the  stigma. 

Abundant  on  trees  at  2000  feet  above  the  sea,  I  gathered  the 
dull-flowered  Eria  alhido-iomentosa,  remarkable  for  having  its 
perianth  densely  covered  with  a  felty  mass  of  white  wool.  Its 
anther  is  separated  by  a  rim-like  rostellum  from  the  broad  and 
rather  shallow  stigma.  Out  of  sixty  flowers  which  I  examined  at 
various  times,  I  did  not  find  one  otherwise  than  self-fertilised 
while  still  in  the  bud,  by  the  viscid  matter  of  the  stigma  swelling 


IN  JAVA. 


95 


up  and  inundating,  by  the  cliannels  at  the  side  of  the  rostellum, 
at  least  the  most  external  pollen  masses  on  each  side.  These 
poUinia  emit  their  tubes  over  the  rim  of  the  rostellum,  almost 
obliterating  it,  into  the  stylary  canal.  On  the  opening  of  the 
flower  and  the  retraction  of  the  anther-case,  the  most  internal 
pollinia  may  sometimes  be  found  in  the  condition  of  loose 
grains  unaffected  by  the  inundation  of  viscid  matter.  In  its 
fertilisation  this  species  of  Eria  seems  to  resemble  Bendrobium 
chrysantlmm. 

The  mode  of  fertilisation  described  as  occurring  in  Ophrijs 
apifera  by  Mr.  Darwin,  I  found  to  be  followed  very  closely  by 
a  species  of  Eria  near  to  E.  javensis,  in  which  the  anther-cap 
shrivels   up  backwards  after  rupturing,  so  as  to  disclose  the 


FIG.  26, 


FIG.  26a. 


FIG.    2o. — CnUYSOGLOSSCM   SP.  ;    A,  ANTHER-CAP;    B,    POLLIKIA   IX    SITU;    0, 
STIGMA  ;     D,      VPPER     3IARGIN      OF      STIGMA ;      E,     LOWER     MARGIN     OP 

STIGMA.       FIG.    26a. SECTION    OF    SAME.       THE  VISCID    JIATTER    FLOWS 

OVER   THE    MARGIN,    D,    INTO    THE    ANTHER. 


pollinia,  which  at  once,  even  when  quite  shaded  from  wind  and 
all  other  disturbances,  begin  a  slow  tortuous  movement,  during 
which  they  fall  into  their  own  stigmas,  as  seen  in  Fig.  23,  p.  93. 
In  a  species  of  terrestrial  orchid  unknown  to  me,  but  nearly 
related,  if  not  belonging  to  the  genus  ChrysogJossum,  I 
found  thes(!  contrivances  for  ejecting  self-fertilisation  carried 
to  their  extreme  limit,  by  its  fertilising  itself  without  ever 
opening  its  florets  at  all  (Figs.  25,  20).  I  observed  them  in 
the  forest,  as  well  as  grew  a  few  of  them  in  3Ir.  Lash's  garden, 
and  every  specimen  was  fertilised  in  the  same  way.    In  oi)ening 


96 


A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


its  locked-up  petals,  I  found  the  labellum  beautifully  marked 
with  lines  of  purple,  carmine  and  orange,  and  the  column  also ; 
but  no  insect  eye  could  ever  be  fascinated  or  allured  by  its 
painted  whorls. 

In  the  rather  inconspicuous  Goodijera  procera  self-fertilisa- 
tion takes  place  by  the  swelling  up  of  the  viscid  matter  of  the 
stigma  beyond  its  true  boundary,  till  it  touches,  as  seen  in 
Fig.  28,  the  viscid  disk  of  the  pollinia,  and  spreads  into  the 
pollinia  chamber.  I  have  no  doubt  this  takes  place  in  many 
other  species  of  Goodijera,  and  very  probably  also  in  our  own 
Highland  species,  Goodyera  repens.    Other  species  which  I  have 


FIG.  28. 


GOODTEEA  PROCERA  ;  A,  SWOLLEN  TV  CAfDICLES  OF  POLLIMA  (SOMEWHAT  EXAG- 
GERATED) ;  B,  SPLIT  ROSTELLrJI,  SHOWING  IN  FIG.  28  THE  DISK  OF  POLLINIA  ; 
C,  STIGMA  ;  D,  fPPER  MARGIN  OF  STIGMA  BEFORE  STIGMATIG  FLUID  HAS  BEGUN 
TO    SWELL  ;    E,    THE    STIGMATIG  FLUID    SAVOLLEN    UP. 

not  been  able  to  designate  by  name  presented  similar  or  allied 
modifications  for  securing  self-fertilisation. 

To  me  was  especially  interesting  the  purple  Arimdina, 
which  one  might  imagine  to  have  become  tired  of  vainly 
displaying  its  beauty  to  wayward  and  inappreciate  butterflies 
and  bees,  and  had  assumed  a  form  that  should — let  all  the 
glittering  humming  wings  pass  heedless  as  they  would — per- 
petuate a  fertile  race. 

These  instances  go  to  show  that  the  rule  that  "  the  flowers 
of  orchids  are  fertilised  by  the  pollen  of  other  flowers  "  is  not 
so  universal  as  has  been  supposed.  It  is  to  be  feared  that  too 
often  the  interesting  cases  of  flowers  observed  to  be  cross- 
fertilised  by  insects  have  been  recorded,  while  those  of  flowers 
otherwise  fertilised  have  not  been  mentioned,  so  that  the  law 


IN  JAVA.  97 

of  cross-fertilisation  in  orchids  has  been  in  clanger  of  being 
unduly  magnified,  from  the  absence  of  evidence  on  the  other 
side. 

The  estate  of  Kosala  derives  its  name  from  the  rounded  hill 
above  the  house.  The  word  is  of  Sanscrit  origin,  but  its 
meaning  is  unknown.  It  is  a  country  along  the  bank  of  the 
Sarayu,  forming  a  part  of  the  modern  province  of  Oude.  It 
was  the  pristine  kingdom  of  a  solar  race,  and  in  the  time  of 
Buddha  its  principal  city  was  Sewet  (Sravasti).  There  is 
another  Kosala  in  the  Deccan  (Daksliina  Kosala)  ;  so  Kosala 
or  Kusala  is  the  name  of  a  land  or  a  race.  Ala  occurs  as  a 
termination  in  many  names  of  countries,  but  the  root  Kosh  or 
Kush  has  such  an  immense  variety  of  significations  that  it  is 
impossible  to  find  a  good  translation  for  it. 

The  city  of  Sewet  in  Kosala  was  visited  in  a.d.  401  by 
the  Chinese  Buddhist  pilgrim  Fah-hian,  and  where  he  saw 
the  famous  sandal-wood  figure  made  by  order  of  the  king  of 
Kosala.  He  found  at  some  distance  from  the  city  a  copse 
called  Aptanetravana  ("recovered  sight"),  where  originally 
five  hundred  blind  men  lived  who  were  restored  to  sight  by 
Buddha.  The  blind  men  threw  their  staves  on  the  ground, 
which  forthwith  grew  up  into  trees  and  formed  a  sacred 
grove  or  copse.  The  name  has  most  probably  come  down 
from  Hindoo  times  to  the  present  associated  with  some 
sacred  legend  whose  influence  hovers  still  over  the  spot ; 
for  when  the  coffee  gardens  were  being  made  the  natives 
refused  to  fell  the  forest  that  grew  on  the  Kosala  hill, 
and  only  under  compulsion  could  they  then  be  persuaded  to 
enter  it. 

Under  its  shade  there  stand  several  mounds,  blocks,  and  slabs 
which  Mr.  Lash  conducted  me  one  day  to  see.  On  entering 
the  forest  we  were  somewhat  surprised  to  find  a  portion  of  the 
ground  newly  cleared  of  underwood  from  about  several  of  the 
stones,  and  against  them  standing  the  remnants  of  small 
torches  of  sweet  gums  which  had  been  offered  before  them,  I 
felt  certain  that  this  was  the  work  of  none  of  the  surrounding 
people  who  were  afraid  to  enter  the  copse. 

I  decided  therefore  to  make  a  full  survey  of  the  buried 
ruins,  and  after  some  difficulty  I  succeeded  in  securing,  for  a 
consideration,    the   services   of  a  youth  who  was  willing   to 


98 


A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


brave  with  me  the  wrath  of  the  guardian  spirits  of  the  grove, 
and  assist  me  in  the  sacrilegious  work  of  hewing  which  my 
operations  would  entail. 

In  the  immediate  neighbourhood,  was  discovered  a  bronze 
bell  of  undoubted  Hindoo  manufacture,  its  handle  ornamented 
with  the  sacred  bull,  but  without  the  clapper  which  had 
dropped  from  its  ring ;  and  within  the  boundaries  of  the 
grove  stands  a  rude  figure  of  the  Buddha,  with  elevated  finger, 
as  if  in  the  act  of  instructing. 

The  ruins  consist  of  terraces  built  up  round  the  hill,  which 
probably  once  encircled  it  entirely,  but  part  of  which  has 
evidently  extended  where  now  the  coffee  plantation  exists, 
and  has  been  obliterated  perhaps  in  the  cultivation  of  forest 
patches  by  the  natives  in  former  jjeriods.  Only  the  portion 
surrounding  for  some  distance  that  used  by  the  worshippers  has 


EGG-SHAFED   STONE   FROM   THE   KARAXG'S   GliOVE. 


been  left  unmolested.  There  the  terraces  are  completely  laid 
out  in  quadrilateral  enclosures,  their  boundaries  marked  out  by 
blocks  of  stone  laid  or  fixed  in  the  ground,  which  with  singular 
exactitude  lie  within  a  degree  of  the  true  magnetic  cardinal 
points.  Here  and  there  on  the  terraces  are  more  prominent 
monuments — erect  pillars  surmounting  oval  piles  of  stones ; 
flat  slabs  on  the  ground  supporting  egg-shaped  blocks,  which 
are  distributed  in  many  sjsots  in  such  numbers  and  perfection 
of  shape  that  to  have  made  them  or  searched  the  brooks  for 
them  must  have  entailed  a  vast  expenditure  of  time  and 
trouble.  Here  and  there  also  I  found  flat  slabs  raised  on  end 
and  remains  of  circular  paved  areas,  set  round  with  upright 
blocks  of  stone.  Specially  noteworthy  was  a  pillar,  erect 
within  a  square  marked  out  with  stones  on  the  ground,  round 


IX  JAVA,  99 

which  the  worshippers  had  plaited  a  fringe  of  Areng  palm 
leaves.  This  same  stone  is  thus  decorated  at  every  visit 
made  by  the  worshippers  to  the  sacred  grove. 

At  the  base  of  two  of  the  stones,  where  perhaps  they  have 
lain  for  unknown  time,  I  found  an  earthenware  jar,  both  of 
them  somewhat  broken,  but  of  elegant  shape  and  artistic 
design,  not  of  ordinary  native  pattern  or  workmanship ;  but, 
besides  these  jars,  the  egg-shaped  stones  and  the  image,  all 
the  monuments  were  of  rough  stone  and  without  inscription  or 
sign  of  handicraft.  At  the  base  of  all  the  principal  mounds 
and  pillars  I  found  remains  of  their  offerings. 

I  learnt  that  the  worshippers  belonged  to  the  tribe  called 
the  Karangs  or  Kalangs,  who  lived  in  a  village  lying  several 
days'  journey  to  the  southward.     Four  times  a  year  a  proces- 


EARTUEN'WABE    POT    FROM   THE   KARAXG'S   GROVE. 

sion  of  old  men  and  youths  repairs,  by  paths  known  only 
to  themselves,  through  the  dense  intervening  forest  in  a  diiect 
course  by  valley  and  mountain,  to  this  sacred  grove ;  the  old 
men  to  worship  and  make  offering,  the  youths  to  see  and 
leam  the  mysterious  litany  of  their  fathers.  The  old  men  lead 
the  way ;  the  rest  follow  in  single  file,  no  one  breaking  the 
silence  of  their  journey,  k^hould  any  one  be  encountered  by 
them  on  the  way  their  pilgrimage  is  considered  for  that  time 
unpropitious,  and  they  return  to  their  village  to  wait  for  a 
more  favourable  occasion.  On  their  arrival  with  early 
morning  at  the  grove  they  camp  in  a  small  hut,  cleanse  the 
ground  about  the  sacred  mounds,  and  perform  during  the 
night  or  on  the  following  day  the  rites  known  to  them- 
selves alone;  iu  the  evening  they  take  their  departure  to  an 


100 


A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS. 


adjoining  valley,  where  below  a  great  overhanging  rock  they 
wait  till  break  of  next  day,  when  they  return  home  in  a 
similar  secret  and  silent  manner  to  their  coming.  They  all 
wear  garments  of  cloth  striped  with  black  and  white. 

Raffles*  has  given  an  interesting  and  full  account  of  these 
people  in  his  '  History  of  Java'  from  which  I  make  the  follow- 
ing extract :  "  They  were  at  one  time  numerous  in  various  parts 
of  Java,  leading  a  wandering  life,  practising  religious  rites 
different  from  those  of  the  great  body  of  the  people,  and  avoid- 
ing intercourse  with  them,  but  most  of  them  are  now  reduced 
to  subjection,  and  are  become  stationary  in  their  residence, 
having  embraced  the  Mahomedan  religion.  In  a  few  villages 
their  peculiar  customs  are  still  preserved.     Although  by  tra- 


EABTUENWAEE    POT   FROM    THE    KABANG  S    GROVE, 


dition  their  descent  is  from  a  princess  of  Mendang,  Kamulan, 
and  a  chief  transformed  into  a  dog,  they  have  claims  to  be 
considered  the  actual  descendants  of  the  aborigines  of  the 
island.  Jhey  are  represented  as  having  a  great  veneration 
for  a  red  dog,  one  of  which  is  generally  kept  by  each  family, 
which  they  will  not  permit  to  be  struck  or  ill-used.f  When  a 
young  man  asks  a  girl  in  marriage   he  must   prove  descent 

*  For  additional  information  the  reader  is  referred  to  Tijdschrift  v.  Ned, 
Jnd.  i.  jaarg.  ii.  deel,  p.  295  et  seq. :  iv.  j.  ii.  217 ;  vii.  j.  iv.  335  et  seq. ; 
Bijdragen  v.  Ind.  T.  L.  ea  V,-Kunde,  iii.  Volgreeks,  iv.  deel. ;  Indisches  Maga- 
zine, 1845. 

f  "According  to  the  Zend  Avesta,  certain  dogs  have  the  power  of  protecting 
the  departed  spirits  from  the  demons  lying  in  wait  for  it  on  the  perilous 
passage  of  the  narrow  bridge  over  the  abyss  of  hell ;  and  a  dog  is  always  led 
in  funeral  processions,  and  made  to  look  at  the  corpse." — Macmil.  Mag., 
"  Village  Life  in  the  Apeunincs,"  June  1879. 


IN  JAVA.  101 

from  their  peculiar  stock.  When  the  Kalangs  moved  from 
one  place  to  another,  they  were  conveyed  in  carts,  with  two 
solid  wheels  with  a  revolving  axle,  drawn  by  two  pairs  of 
buffaloes,  according  to  the  circumstances  of  the  party.  In 
these  were  placed  the  materials  of  huts,  implements  of 
husbandry,  &c.  In  this  manner,  until  forty  or  fifty  years  ao-o, 
they  were  continually  moving  from  one  part  of  the  island  to 
another.  They  have  still  their  separate  chiefs,  and  preserve 
many  of  their  customs.  They  are  treated  with  contempt  by 
their  Sundanese  neighbours,  so  that  '  Kalang '  is  considered  an 
epithet  of  contempt  and  disgrace." 

Living  despised  and  secluded  in  villages  apart  by  them- 
selves, they  follow  the  rites  and  customs  that  have  descended 
to  them  from  their  forefathers  with  the  superstitious  awe 
that  comes  of  ignorance.  The  pillars  in  the  centre  of  rudely 
circular  heaps,  as  perhaps  also  the  ovoid  blocks  resting  on 
tablets  and  other  shaped  slabs,  point  no  doubt  to  the  celebra- 
tion here  of  phallic  rites  and  to  the  worship  of  the  Linga  and 
Yoni,  the  emblems  of  Siva  and  Yishnu.  It  is  interesting  to 
find  the  goblets  or  vases  at  the  base  of  the  upright  pillars; 
they  point  probablv  to  the  "  mystic  vessels  or  goblets  in 
the  hands  of  Siva  in  the  image  of  this  god  in  Indian  temples 
in  central  Java."  Not  less  significant  is  the  upright  stone 
decked  with  palm-leaf  fringe,  a  symbol  round  which  these 
rude  and  ignorant  villagers,  following  their  blind  traditions, 
weave  to  this  day  hangings,  "just  as  the  women  did  for 
the  Ashera  in  the  Jewish  temple,  and  the  xVthenian  maidens 
[following  their  old  traditions]  embroidered  the  sacred  peplos 
for  the  ships  presented  to  Athene  at  the  Dionysiac  festival " 
(Cox). 

In  standing  under  the  forest  amid  these  ancient  remains,  I  felt 
as  if  I  were  having  an  unbroken  view  down  the  ages  to  distant 
antiquity ;  these  relics  still  warm,  as  they  were,  with  the  inter- 
mittent fires  which  have  been  kept  alive  from  the  dim 
past  till  now,  and  echoing  with  the  footsteps  of  the  rude 
worshippers  who,  unaftected  by  the  incessant  waves  of  change 
that  have  broken  about  them,  are  themselves  as  much  ancient 
monuments  as  the  very  blocks  of  weather-beaten,  lichen- 
matted  trachyte,  whose  purpose  is  lost  to  their  traditions,  before 
which  they  torpidly  mutter  a  litany  they  do  not  comprehend 


102  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

and  listlessly  perfume  the  air,  they  know  not  why,  with  the 
odours  of  their  incense. 

Not  far  distant  from  the  Karang  dwellings  lies  the  sacred 
village  of  Tjibeo,  inhabited  by  the  Badui,  containing  never 
more  nor  fewer  than  forty  souls.  If  their  number  be  increased 
by  birth  the  overplus  must  go  out  and  reside  in  one  or  other 
of  three  neighbouring  villages  ;  if  their  number  decrease  the 
deficit  must  be  made  up  from  among  the  Outsiders,  as  they  call 
these  extraneous  villagers.  No  foot  but  one  of  their  own — not 
even  of  the  highest  European  official — may  cross  the  sacred 
boundary,  which  at  some  distance  hedges  the  sanctity  of  their 
abodes.  Like  the  Rodiyas  of  Ceylon,  they  eat  carrion  and  the 
flesh  of  animals  offensive  to  their  neighbours  ;  flesh  of  buffalo 
they  may  eat,  but  they  may  not  kill  the  animal  themselves, 
and  of  fowl  also  if  the  life  have  not  been  taken  by  the  letting 
of  its  blood,  but  by  a  stroke  on  the  head.  They  wear  only  a 
short  loin-cloth,  whose  colour  must  never  be  other  than  white 
striped  with  black.*  In  speaking  to  any  one  not  of  their 
own  stock,  of  however  high  a  rank  he  be,  they  use  the 
pronouns  by  which  a  suj^erior  distinctly  indicates  that  he  is 
addressing  his  inferior.  At  various  periods  of  the  year  they 
also  pay  mysterious  and  religious  rites  to  rude  venerated 
blocks  of  stone,  arranged  in  terraces  near  their  village.  The 
Kalangs  are  probably  an  oflshoot  of  the  same  stock  as  the 
Badui,  though  they  are  not  reckoned  among  those  outsiders 
who  may  be  received  to  make  up  a  deficiency  in  the  sacred 
Forty  of  Tjibeo,  nor  do  they  worship  at  their  shrines.  On  the 
high  Tengger  Mountains,  in  the  east  of  Java,  a  colony  with 
rites  and  customs  similar  to  those  of  the  Badui  exists  in  all 
the  isolation  and  opprobrium  that  a  schismatic  religion  can  call 
out. 

AYith  the  exception  of  the  Karangs  and  the  Badui,  the 
entire  population  of  Bantam  profess  the  Mahomedan  religion, 
which  however  seems  to  be  merely  a  lusty  and  fanatical  graft 
on  the  pagan  superstitions  of  the  ancient  times. 

*  "A  magnificent  robe  haviiig  beeu  given  to  Gotama,  his  attendant 
Ananda,  in  order  to  destroy  its  intrinsic  value,  cut  it  into  thirty  pieces  and 
sewed  them  together  in  four  divisions,  so  tliat  the  robe  resembled  the  patches 
of  a  vice-field,  divided  by  embankments,  and  in  conformity  with  this  precedent 
the  robe  of  every  priest  was  similarly  dissected  and  reunited." — Henry's 
'  Eastern  Monachism,'  chap.  xii.  p.  117.  Can  the  striped  garments  of  tho 
Kalangs  and  Badui  have  any  reference  to  the  above  tradition  'i 


7^  JAFA.  103 

On  3[ount  Dangka  and  on  the  summits  of  many  of  the 
neighbouring  hills  I  stumbled  on  groves  containing  either 
rocks  naturally  i>i  situ,  or  stones  that  had  been  placed  there, 
which  my  porters  refused  to  enter  for  fear  of  being  affected  by 
some  sickness  or  misfortune.  "  They  are  Patapahaan  "  (places 
of  penance  and  worship),  they  would  say,  and  are  the  sacred 
spots  where  they  believe  their  ancestors  who,  refusing  to 
embrace  ^Mahomedanism,  fled  to  the  forests,  vanished  in  invi- 
sible forms.  Whenever  calamity  overtakes  them — when  their 
crops  have  failed  or  they  are  childless — they  repair  (in 
greatest  numbers  during  the  month  of  the  chief  Mahomedan 
fast — Ramadan)  to  these  Tapa,  where  they  will  spend  days 
of  fasting  and  awesome  terror,  in  the  hope  that  the  spirits  of 
their  transfigured  forefathers  will  grant  them  the  desire  of 
their  hearts.  In  dire  sickness,  when  the  slender  list  of  their 
pharmacopoeia  has  been  exhausted,  they  will  as  a  last  resource 
send  to  gather  lichens  from  the  sacred  stones  of  the  despised 
Ealangs  or  the  Badui,  in  the  belief  that  a  decoction  therefrom 
will  avail  to  ward  off  or  heal  their  sickness. 

It  is  quite  a  common  thing  to  encounter  by  the  wayside 
near  a  village,  or  in  a  rice-field,  or  below  the  shade  of  a  great 
dark  tree,  a  little  platform  with  an  ofiferingof  rice  and  prepared 
fruits  to  keep  disease  and  blight  at  a  distance,  and  propitiate 
the  spirits  ever  lying  in  wait  in  gloomy,  sunless  (and  naturally 
depressing)  spots  to  harm  the  passer  by.  This  fear  of  lurking 
evil  ever  oppresses  their  lives.  No  one  can  be  found  brave 
enough  to  touch  a  man  struck  to  the  ground,  for  instance, 
by  lightning;  they  will  cover  him  up  where  he  fell,  Avith 
leaves  or  generally  with  stable  dung,  and  commit  his  re- 
covery to  nature.  If  he  recover,  well  and  good ;  but  to  carry 
him  from  the  spot,  to  lift  him  or  meddle  with  him  while  un- 
conscious, would  be  to  cry  down  the  Avenger's  displeasure  on 
their  own  head. 

In  the  month  of  January  1880,  Dr.  Scheffer,  the  then  Di- 
rector of  the  Buitenzorg  CJardens,  wrote  to  me  that,  as  much 
virji-in  forest  was  being  felled  among  the  mountains  not  far 
from  the  Government  Cinchona  Plantations  in  the  adjoining 
province  of  the  Prcanger,  a  good  ojiportunity  offered  itself  of 
increasing  my  herbarium.  This  was  not  a  chance  to  let  slip, 
80,  bidding  a  reluctant  farewell  to  Kosala,  I  set  off  for  Buitenzorg 


104  A   NATURALISrS    WANDERINGS 

by  the  direct  foot-road  through  the  forest.  The  only  sound 
which  disturbed  the  woods  was  the  "  Kang-kang-kong  "  of  the 
"bird  of  the  rainy  season,"  as  the  native  has  named  a  species 
which  disappears  or  is  silent  during  the  dry  monsoon — a  bird 
I  could  never  catch  a  sight  of,  however,  notwithstanding  my 
most  warv  stalkins;. 


7^  JAVA.  105 


CHAPTER  III. 

SOJOURN   AT   PENGELENGAN,   IN   THE   TREANGER   REGENCIES. 

Leave  Buitenzorg  for  the  Preanger  Eegencies — Journey  to  Bandong  in  a 
Post-cart — Bandong — Thence  to  Pengelengan — Visit  to  the  famous 
Cinchona  Gardens  of  the  Government — Plant-life  in  the  surrounding 
mountains — The  Upas  tree — Crater  flora — Land-sUps  and  the  power 
of  rain — Interesting  birds — The  Badger-headed  Mydaus — The  Banteng, 
or  wild  cattle — Wild  dogs — Leave  Pengelengan  for  Batavia. 

After  a  few  days  of  preparation  for  my  new  tour  spent  in 
Buitenzorg,  I  sent  off  my  baggage  to  the  Preanger  in  the  care 
of  a  string  of  coolies,  and  secured  for  myself  a  seat  at  the  mode- 
rate rate  of  twenty  cents  per  mile  in  the  mail-cart  which  every 
evening  leaves  Buitenzorg  for  Bandong.  The  mail-cart  was 
not  the  most  luxurious,  but  it  was  the  cheapest  and  certainly  the 
most  expeditious  way  of  getting  over  the  ground.  This  cart  was 
a  rough  edition  of  our  own  mail-gig — simply  a  box  on  wheels — 
whose  cushionless  and  slippery  top  formed  a  most  uncomfort- 
able seat,  yet  I  would  not  have  missed  the. ride  for  a  good  deal. 
We  started  with  a  couple  of  stout  ponies  yoked  tandem-wise, 
and  in  place  of  side  lamps  our  way  was  lighted  by  an  immense 
torch  made  of  splints  of  bamboo  some  seven  feet  long  tied 
together,  which  a  youth,  who  straddle-wise  clung  on  behind, 
held  to  the  wind  to  keep  it  ablaze. 

Our  road  lay  over  the  ]\regamendoeng  Pass,  4503  feet  above 
the  sea.  At  first  the  gradient  was  not  very  steep,  and  we 
proceeded  at  a  fine  pace.  Towards  every  post-station,  five 
miles  apart  all  along  the  road,  our  progress  was  heralded  by 
loud  shouts,  and  by  the  louder  shot-like  whip-crackings  that 
these  drivers  are  famed  for.  At  each  station  a  halt  of  three  or 
four  minutes  sufficed  to  put  in  the  fresh  horses  standing  ready 
for  us,  out  blazed  a  fresh  flaming  torch,  and  our  plunging  and 
kicking  steeds  were  off  again,  at  a  gallop  which  by  voice  and 
whip  waS'  not  allowed  to  flag  until  we  pulled  up  under  the 


106  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

next  station.  By  and  by  the  ascent  became  steeper,  and  our 
team  had  to  be  augmented  by  the  addition  of  a  buffalo  in 
front  of  our  horses ;  further  up  a  second  was  added,  till  at  last 
the  equine  was  altogether  discarded  for  the  bovine  element. 

Under  the  soothing  evenness  of  their  progress  I  might  have 
dropped  into  a  pleasant  doze  ;  but  the  night  was  so  beautiful 
that  I  preferred  to  enjoy  the  picturesque  effect  produced  by 
the  light  of  the  torches  on  our  team  and  their  drivers — who 
were  dressed  in  short  red  trousers,  deep  yellow  jackets,  and 
their  tartan  sarongs  thrown  sash-wise  across  their  shoulders, 
and  wore  immense  hats  more  than  two  feet  in  diameter ;  and 
to  lose  none  of  the  charm  of  the  bright  starlit  night  and  the 
fire-flies  that  illuminated  with  their  fitful  light  the  borders 
of  the  forest  through  which  we  were  ascending  whose  low  moan 
was  the  only  sound  that  broke  the  stillness  of  the  night,  for 
the  driver  had  coiled  himself  up  as  best  he  could,  and  was  fast 
asleep,  and  the  buffalo-boys  walked  like  mutes  at  a  funeral. 

At  about  midnight  we  reached  the  summit  of  the  pass,  where 
it  was  so  cold  that  I  was  glad  to  crouch  by  the  fire  of  a  small  hut 
there,  while  the  buffaloes  were  being  changed.  The  place  of 
the  oxen  was  now  taken  by  a  single  horse,  which,  urged  at  a 
pace  more  swift  than  safe,  carried  us  down  the  mountain  side 
into  a  warmer  region  in  a  very  short  time.  The  up-hill  seat 
might  have  been  more  comfortable  ;  but  the  down-hill  ride 
Avas  interspersed  with  practical  lessons  in  dynamics  which 
rather  tended  to  disagree  with  the  general  quiet  order  of  one's 
internal  arrangements,  yet  the  sensation  of  being  whirled 
along  at  such  a  rapid  speed  was  full  of  exhilaration  and  great 
pleasure.  At  3  a.m.  we  pulled  up  at  our  half-way  house — 
the  post-office  at  Tjandjoor — where  I  was  checked  off  with  the 
rest  of  the  baggage  which  had  been  consigned  to  the  driver  at 
Buitenzorg,  re-booked  for  the  remainder  of  the  journey,  and 
handed  over  to  the  charge  of  a  new  Jehu  to  be  delivered  at 
his  destination. 

Bej-ond  Tjandjoor  the  road  passed  through  a  more  level 
country,  leading  to  the  deep  valley  of  the  Tjitaroom.  As 
there  was  no  bridge  over  the  ravine  we  were,  on  arriving  at 
the  near  bank,  assisted  to  alight  by  what  seemed  a  regiment 
of  walking  torches,  and.  with  cart  and  horses  transported  on  a 
bamboo  raft  to  the  further  side,  where  two  buffalo  friends  were 


IN  JAVA.  107 

in  waiting  to  haul  us  up  the  long  steep  bank  out  of  the  gorge, 
beyond  which  the  road  was  easy,  and  the  horses,  urged  to  their 
utmost  speed,  dashed  along  through  village  alter  village, 
rousing  the  dogs  and  awakening  the  sleepers.  The  night 
growing  into  day  brought  us  one  of  the  pleasantest  portions  of 
our  drive.  The  grey  tints  of  the  short  dawn  passing  gradually 
through  many  lovely  hues  into  a  delicate  blue,  and  the  fresh 
wooded  landscape  lit  up  by  the  morning  sun  more  charmingly 
than  at  any  other  hour  of  the  day,  are  the  beauties,  never 
wearying  to  the  eye,  that  accompany  the  opening  of  a  tropical 
day.  At  8  a.m.  we  drew  rein  at  Bandong  post-office,  having 
accomplished  somewhat  over  eighty  miles  in  thirteen  hours. 

Bandong  is  the  chief  town  of  the  Preanger  Regencies,  one 
of  the  largest  and  richest  residencies  in  Java.  In  this  province 
the  Government  has  some  of  its  most  extensive  coffee  gardens, 
tobacco  and  cinchona  plantations.  The  town  is  large  and 
straggling,  containing  but  few  European  houses ;  its  most 
interesting  building  is  the  residence  of  the  Eegent  or  native 
governor  of  the  district.  In  front  of  his  door  is  a  great  square, 
in  the  centre  of  which  a  giant  fig-tree  grows,  beneath  whose 
shade  on  high  days  the  natives  congregate  to  sport  and  to 
pay  respect  to  the  chief.  Though  some  2000  feet  above  the 
sea  it  is  hot  and  close  at  all  seasons,  and  is  not  a  very  pleasant 
place  to  live  in.  The  larger  part  of  the  trading  population  is 
Chinese  and  Arab,  the  natives  taking  little  or  no  part  in  it ; 
but  the  district  is  noted  for  its  beautiful  ornamental  baskets 
of  bamboo  wicker-work. 

Bandong  stands  in  the  centre  of  an  immense  level  plain 
hemmed  in  on  all  sides  by  very  high  mountains — most  of 
them  volcanoes — which  discharge  their  streams  into  it,  whose 
waters  can  find  only  one  outlet,  the  Tjitaroom,  which  issues 
from  the  western  angle  and  fl(jws  northward  into  the  Java  Sea. 
In  prehistoric  times  this  plain  must  have  been  one  large  lake, 
till,  by  the  convulsions  and  eruptions  of  the  volcanic  peaks 
that  banked  it  in,  a  gap  was  formed,  which  drained  off  the 
water,  and  turned  its  bottom  into  a  fruitful  field.  On  the 
whole  one  would  have  preferred  the  lake,  and  Java  could  then 
have  boasted  of  one  respectable  fresh-water  sea,  a  feature  of 
beauty  conspicuously  and  unexpectedly  absent  from  so  moun- 
tainous and  volcanic  a  country. 


108  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

After  resting  a  day  in  Bandong  I  proceeded  to  my  destina- 
tion, some  thirty  miles  farther  to  the  south.  For  fifteen  miles 
of  the  way  it  was  possible  to  drive  in  a  spring  cart,  which  I 
hired  in  the  town ;  but  the  rest  of  the  road,  which  rises  to  4500 
feet,  is  very  steep,  and  had  to  be  accomplished  on  horseback. 

The  road  in  the  lower  districts,  shaded  at  short  intervals  by 
leafy  Hibiscus  trees,  passed  between  hedges  of  bright  yellow- 
purple-  and  red-flowering  Lantana ;  higher  up  broad  patches 
of  pink  balsam  (Impatiens),  shady  Alhizzias,  purple  Bin- 
tino  {Lagerstrsemia),  tall  tree-ferns  and  a  shrubby  species 
of  Cassia  bearing  large  trosses  of  bright  golden  flowers,  were 
met  with.  A  little  higher  a  sjDccies  of  Datura,  with  broad 
leaves  and  large  white  trumpet-shaped  flowers,  suddenly 
became  abundant.  Being  utilised  by  the  natives  as  boundary 
hedges  for  their  coffee-gardens,  it  formed  by  the  size  and 
abundance  of  its  flowers  a  marked  feature  of  the  vegetation. 

Five  or  six  hours  of  slow  ascent  brought  us  at  last  to  Pen- 
gelengan,  a  small  village  lying  at  an  elevation  of  4500  feet 
above  the  sea,  on  an  undulating  plateau  formed  by  the  inner 
slopes  of  the  Malawar,  Wayang  and  Tilu  mountains,  whose 
summits  range  from  6000  to  7500  feet,  and  at  several  points 
command  a  view  of  the  South  Indian  Ocean.  On  the  out- 
skirts of  the  village  was  a  comfortable  and  convenient  Govern- 
ment bungalow,  in  which  visitors  to  this  rather  out-of-the-way 
spot  could,  with  the  permission  of  the  Resident  (always  wil- 
lingly granted),  be  accommodated  for  a  time.  Here  I  was  in 
the  centre  of  one  of  the  great  Government  coffee  districts,  and 
in  the  vicinity  of  its  cinchona  plantations  on  the  slopes  of  the 
surrounding  mountains. 

One  of  my  first  visits  was  paid  to  the  '  Bark  '  gardens  in  order 
to  see  in  a  living  state  these  famous  trees,  and  especially  that 
species  with  cream-coloured  flowers,  the  Cinchona  Ledgeriana, 
Avhich  had  attained  so  great  a  celebrity,  and  could  in  1880 
be  seen,  excepting  in  our  Himalayan  gardens,  almost  nowhere 
else  but  in  the  Dutch  plantations.  It  is  now  little  more 
than  thirty  years  since  the  Netherlands  Indian  Government 
began  to  cultivate  cinchona.  Their  first  seed  was  brought 
by  Haskarl,  of  the  Botanical  Gardens  in  Buitenzorg,  who 
had  been  deputed  by  the  then  Colonial  Minister  to  visit 
Peru  to  see  the  tree  in   its  native  forests  and    bring  home 


IX  JAVA.  109 

with  liiui  a  collection  of  what  seeds  he  could  find.  He  was 
unfortunately  very  unsuccessful,  and  obtained  seeds  of  only 
very  inferior  sorts.  In  1S66  the  Government  purchased,  for 
less  than  £50,  a  small  quantity  of  seed  of  a  supposed  variety 
of  C.  calisaya  sent  from  America  by  3Ir.  Charles  Ledger.  So 
well  had  this  species  been  propagated  that  there  were  nearly 
one  million  trees,  worth  more  than  a  million  and  a  half  of 
money,  in  the  gardens,  raised  from  the  seed  then  purchased. 

It  is  well  known  that  cinchona  is  so  liable  to  hybridisation 
that  it  is  very  difficult  to  obtain  pure  seedlings  from  the  seed 
even  of  pure  trees,  the  offspring  containing  very  often  less 
alkaloids  than  their  parents.  An  experiment,  which  has  proved 
a  great  success,  was  made  by  Dr.  Moens  of  grafting  on  the  easily 
reared  and  quickly  growing  C.  succiruhra  stems,  shoots  from 
the  highest  alkaloid-yielding  trees.  They  have  been  found  to 
grow  very  rapidly  and  to  reproduce  pretty  regularly  tlie  same 
proportion  of  alkaloids  as  the  trees  from  which  the  grafts  were 
cut.  Of  Mr.  Ledger's  variety,  now  raised  to  the  rank  of  a  new 
species  by  Dr.  Moens,  the  seed-raised  trees  may  be  of  many 
degrees  of  value,  but  all  contain  a  far  higher  percentage  of 
quinine  than  any  other  species.  I  gathered  as  a  memento  of 
my  visit  some  flowers  from  trees  whose  bark  yielded,  with  a 
trace  only  of  any  other  alkaloid,  the  extraordiuary  amount  of 
ten  and  even  thirteen  per  cent,  of  pure  quinine.  Continued 
cultivation  has  therefore,  it  would  seem,  vastly  developed 
the  amount  of  quinine  that  these  Ledgerianas  contain, 
compared  with  what  tliey  yield  in  their  native  forests  of 
Bolivia. 

The  story  of  how  the  seed  of  this  priceless  tree  (which  can 
now  be  propagated  ad  Jilitum)  reached  the  Old  AVorld  is  so  in- 
teresting that  I  have  extracted  a  few  paragraphs  from  a  letter  of 
its  introducer,  ^Ir.  Charles  Ledger,  in  the  i*^/e/fZ  of  Fob.  5,  1881, 
addressed  to  his  brother,  evoked  by  an  account  of  the  Dutch 
Gardens  I  had  contributed  to  the  same  journal  in  1880 : 

"  While  engaged  in  my  alpaca  enterprise  in  185G,  a  Bolivian 
Indian,  3Ianu('l  Tucra  3Iamani,  formerly  and  afterwards  a 
cinchona  bark-cutter,  was  accompanying  me  with  two  of  liis 
sons.  He  accompanied  me  in  almost  all  my  frecpicnt  journeys 
into  the  interior,  and  was  very  useful  in  examining  tht*  large 
quantities  of  cinchona  bark  and  alpac.i  wool  I  was  constantly 
9 


ilO  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


purchasing.  He  and  his  sons  were  very  much  attached  to 
me,  and  1  phxced  every  confidence  in  them.  Sitting  round  our 
camp-fire  one  evening,  as  was  my  custom  after  dinner,  convers- 
ing on  all  sorts  of  topics,  I  mentioned  what  I  had  read  as  to 
Mr.  Clement  R.  Markham's  mission  [in  search  of  cinchona- 
seeds].  Now  Manuel  had  been  with  me  in  three  of  my 
journeys  into  the  cinchona  districts  of  the  Yungas  of 
Bolivia,  where  I  had  to  go  looking  after  laggard  contractors 
for  delivery  of  bark.  It  was  while  conversing  on  the  subject 
of  Mr.  Markham's  journey,  and  wondering  which  route  he 
would  take,  &c.,  that  Manuel  greatly  surprised  me  by  saying  : 
'  The  gentleman  will  not  leave  the  Yungas  in  good  health  if 
he  really  obtains  the  Rogo  plants  and  seeds,'  Manuel  was 
always  very  taciturn  and  reserved.  1  said  nothing  at  the  time, 
there  being  some  thirty  more  of  my  Indians  sitting  round  the 
■large  fire.  The  next  dny  he  reluctantly  told  me  how  every 
stranger  on  entering  the  Yungas  was  closely  watched  un- 
observed by  hmiself ;  how  several  seed-collectors  had  their 
seed  changed ;  how  their  germinating  power  was  destroyed 
by  their  own  guides,  servants,  &c.  He  also  showed  me  how 
all  the  Indians  most  implicitly  believe,  if  by  plants  or  seed 
from  the  Yungas,  the  cinchonas  are  successfully  propagated  in 
other  countries,  all  their  own  trees  will  perish.  Such,  I  assure 
you,  is  their  superstition.  Although  there  are  no  laws  prohibit- 
ing the  cinchona  seed  or  plants  being  taken  out  of  the  country, 
I  have  seen  private  instructions  from  the  Prefect  in  La  Paz, 
ordering  strictest  vigilance  to  prevent  any  person  taking  seed 
or  plants  out  of  the  country.  More  than  half-a-dozen  times  I 
have  had  my  luggage,  bedding,  ka.,  searched  when  coming  out 
of  the  valley  of  the  Yungas.  [i\[r.  Ledger  unsuccessfully 
attempted  to  communicate  with  Mr.  Markham,  who  was  not 
permitted  to  enter  Bolivia.]  * 

"  You  are  aware  how  I  am  looked  upon  as  a  doctor  by  the 
Indians.  Well,  one  day  I  said :  *  Manuel,  I  may  some  day 
require  some  seed  and  flowers  of  the  famous  white  flower, 
rogo  cascarrilla,  as  a  remedy  ;  and  I  shall  rely  on  your  not 
deceiving  me  in  the  way  you  have  told  me.'  He  merely 
said,  '  Patron,  if  you  ever  require  such  seed  and  flowers,  I  will 
not  deceive  you.'  And  I  thought  no  more  about  it. 
*    Cf.  Markham's  '  Travels  in  Peru  and  India.' 


IN  JAVA.  Ill 

"  Manuel  was  never  aware  of  my  requiring  seed  and  leaves 
for  propagating  purposes ;  he  was  always  told  they  were 
wanted  to  make  a  special  remedy  for  a  special  illness.  For 
many  years,  since  1814,  I  had  felt  deeply  interested  in  seeing 
Europe,  and  my  own  dear  country  in  particular,  free  from 
being  dependent  on  Peru  or  Bolivia  for  its  supply  of  life-givino- 
quinine.  Remembering  and  relying  on  Manuel's  promise  to 
me  in  1856, 1  resolved  to  do  all  in  my  pov.er  to  obtain  the  very 
best  cinchona  seed  produced  in  Bolivia. 

"  His  son  Santiago  went  to  Australia  with  me  in  1858.  In 
18G1,  the  day  before  sending  back  to  South  America  Santiago 
and  other  Indians  who  had  accompanied  me  there  as  shepherds 
of  the  alpacas,  I  bought  200  Spanish  dollars,  and  said  to  him  : 
'  You  will  give  these  to  your  father.  Tell  him  I  count  on  his 
keeping  his  promise  to  get  for  me  forty  to  fifty  pounds  of  rogo 
cinchona  (white  flower)  seed.  He  must  get  it  from  trees  we 
had  sat  under  together  when  trying  to  reach  the  Mamore 
river  in  1851 ;  to  meet  me  at  Tacna  (Peru)  by  May  1863.  If 
not  bringing  pure,  ripe  rogo  seed,  flowers  and  leaves,  never  to 
look  for  me  again.' 

"  I  arrived  back  in  Tacna  on  the  5th  of  January,  1805.  I 
at  once  sent  a  message  to  IManuel,  informing  him  of  my 
arrival.  At  the  end  of  ^tay  he  arrived  with  his  precious  seed. 
It  is  only  now,  some  twenty-four  years  after  poor  Manuel 
promised  not  to  deceive  me,  manifest  how  faithfully  and 
loyally  he  kept  his  promise.  I  say  jjoor  Manuel,  because, 
as  you  know,  he  lost  his  life  while  trying  to  get  another 
supply  of  the  same  class  of  seed  for  me  in  1872-3.  You  are 
aware  too  how  later  on  I  lost  another  old  Indian' friend,  poor 
Poli,  when  bringing  seed  and  flowers  in  1877. 

"  I  feel  thoroughly  convinced  in  my  own  mind  that  such 
astonishingly  rich  quinine-yielding  trees  as  those  in  Java  are 
not  known  to  exist  (in  any  quantity)  in  Bolivia.  These 
wonderful  trees  are  only  to  be  found  in  the  Caupolican  district 
in  eastern  Yungas.  The  white  flower  is  specially  belonging 
to  the  cinchona  '  rogo  '  of  Apolo. 

"You  will  call  to  mind,  no  doubt,  the  very  great  difficulties 
you  had  to  get  this  wonderful  'seed'  looked  at,  even  ;  how  a 
l)art  was  i)urchased  by  ]\[r.  IMoney  for  account  of  our  East 
Indian    Government    for    £50    under    condition    of    10,000 


n2  A   NATUBALISrS    WANDERINGS 

germinating.  Though  60,000  plants  were  successfully  raised 
from  it  by  the  late  Mr.  M'lvor,  I  only  received  the  £50. 

"  The  seed  taken  by  the  Netherlands  Government  cost  it 
barely  £50. 

"  Such  then  is  the  '  story  '  attaching  to  the  now  famous 
CincJwna  Ledgeriana,  the  source  of  untold  Avealth  to  Java, 
Ceylon,  and,  I  hope,  to  India  and  elsewhere.  I  am  proud 
to  see  my  '  dream  '  of  close  on  forty  years  ago  is  realised  ; 
Europe  is  no  longer  dependent  on  Peru  or  Bolivia  for  its 
supply  of  life-giving  quinine." 

In  my  new  locality  I  experienced,  as  at  Kosala,  the  same 
difficulty  in  obtaining  herbarium  specimens  of  the  great  trees, 
with  a  better  opportunity  of  verifying  the  fact  that  the  bulk 
of  those  that  had  been  felled  were  really  barren.  The  fallen 
trunks,  however,  afforded  an  abundant  harvest  of  ferns  ;  while 
on  the  surrounding  mountains,  several  of  them  quiescent 
volcanoes,  which  were  higher  than  any  I  had  yet  visited,  I 
was  happy  in  gathering  many  shrubs  and  plants  which  I  had 
not  before  seen.  Close  to  my  door  grew  one,  our  common  rib- 
grass  (Plantago  major),  which  I  would  have  passed  by  at  home 
as  a  rank  weed,  but  I  gathered  it  here  with  real  affection,  as 
much  "  for  auld  acqua'ntance  sake,"  as  in  sympathy  with  its 
distant  exile  and  inexorable  durance,  with  a  few  compatriots, 
on  these  unquiet  peaks,  which  the  hot  surrounding  plains 
have  made  an  island-in-an-island  prison,  more  hopeless  to 
escape  from  than  the  most  ocean-compassed  speck.  At  4500 
feet  above  the  sea  I  found  a  small  species  of  Hypericum  on 
wet  ground,  like  our  own  JMarsh  St.  John's-wort  {H.  elodes)  ; 
here  and  there,  about  5000  feet,  appeared  purple  violets 
(V.  alata),  increasing  in  abundance  with  the  ascent  through 
woods  of  magnolias  and  chestnuts,  their  stems  clothed  Avith 
orchids,  Freycinetias,  climbing  aroids  and  lycopods,  and  on 
whose  floor  the  dreaded  Upas  dropped  its  fruits. 

Beneath  the  shady  canopy  of  this  tall  fig  no  native  will,  if 
he  knows  it,  dare  to  rest,  nor  will  ho  pass  between  its  stem  and 
the  wind,  so  strong  is  his  belief  in  its  evil  influence. 

In  the  centre  of  a  tea  estate  not  far  off  from  my  encampment 
stood,  because  no  one  could  be  found  daring  enough  to  cut  it 
down,  an  immense  specimen,  which  had  long  been  a  nuisance  to 
the  proprietor  on  account  of  the  lightning  every  now  and  then 


IN  JAVA.  113 

striking  off,  to  the  damage  of  the  shrubs  below,  hirge  branches, 
which  none  of  his  servants  could  be  induced  to  remove.  One 
day,  having  been  pitchforked  together  and  burned,  they  were 
considered  disposed  of;  but  next  morning  the  whole  of  his 
labourers  in  the  adjacent  village  awoke,  to  their  iiitenso  alarm, 
afflicted  with  a  painful  eruption,  wherever  their  bodies  were 
usually  uncovered.  It  was  then  remembered  that  the  smoke  of 
the  burning  branches  had  been  blown  by  the  wind  through 
the  village ;  this  undoubtedly  accounted  for  the  ej)idemic ; 
but  it  did  not  allay  their  fears  that  they  were  all  as  good  as 
dead  men,  for  the  potency  of  the  sap  as  a  poison  is  but  too 
well  known  to  them. 

To  prevent  a  general  flight  of  the  workmen  it  became 
necessary  to  get  rid  of  the  tree  altogether,  but  the  difficulty 
was  to  find  any  one  willing  to  lay  the  axe  to  its  root.  At  last 
a  couple  of  Chinamen,  after  much  persuasion  and  the  oifer 
of  a  high  fee,  agreed  to  perform  the  hazardous  task  of  cutting 
up  and  carting  it  away.  To  the  surprise  of  everybody  they 
accomplished  their  task  w  ithout  experiencing  the  least  harm. 
They  pocketed  their  fee  and  departed  in  silence,  without, 
however,  saying  that  they  had  at  intervals  during  their 
work,  artfully  smeared  their  bodies  with  cocoa-nut  oil. 

The  sap  of  the  bark  alone  is  hurtful,  for  the  logs  into 
which  the  stripped  trunk  was  cut  were  made  into  furniture 
for  the  owner's  dining-room,  w  ithout  ill  effects  to  the  carpen- 
ters. The  bark  of  another  denizen  of  the  same  forest — Gluta 
henghas,  one  of  the  Anacardiaceee — contains  a  sap  even  more 
noxious,  for,  falling  on  the  skin,  it  produces  stubborn  ulcers 
which,  on  the  woodcutters — who  often  get  splashed  on  their 
arms  and  body — require  months  to  heal  ;  but  its  sap  is  not 
used  by  them  for  poison,  as  t!ie  antiarin  is.  It  is  curious  to 
reflect  how  acute  native  ingenuity  has  been  in  elaborating 
a  pharmacopuna  abounding  in  subtle  articles  to  waste  or  take 
away  life,  while  it  contains  hardly  one  to  preserve  it.  The 
action  of  some  of  these  preparations,  whose  effects  I  had 
heard  of  as  well  as  seen,  astonisheil  me  vastly,  but  no  bribe 
that  I  could  offer  was  tempting  enough  to  induce  their  old 
diihuns  to  disclose  their  composition. 

At  elevations  of  5000  feet  Podocarpv.s  trees  (of  the  yew 
family),  oaks  and  laurels  formed  much  of  the  shade,  under 


114  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

which  flourished  elegant  Melastomas,  with  white  instead  of 
pink  flowers,  and  raspberries  (Ruhiis)  of  many  kinds,  the  Ruhus 
lineatus,  a  form  with  specially  beautiful  foliage,  being  abun- 
dant between  6000  and  7000  feet.  On  many  of  these  moun- 
tains a  single  step  would  often  lead  the  foot  out  of  the  green 
forest  on  to  the  edge  of  a  great  scar-like  blotch,  exuding 
sulphureous  vapours  through  every  crack  and  orifice,  dis- 
figuring their  verdant  slopes,  like  a  suppurating  sore  on  a 
fair  neck.  Yet  within  the  indurated  margins  of  these  smoul- 
dering craters,  a  flora  specially  and  surprisingly  interesting,  is 
to  be  encountered.  Amid  the  very  vapours  of  the  fumaroles  I 
gathered  bunches  of  Ericaceous  flowers, .  such  as .  GauUheria 
leucocarpa  and  'punctata,  and  Vaccinium  Jlorihundwn,  their 
leaves  loaded  with  sulphur  and  other  dej^osits,  but  their 
flowers  stiff  with  healthy  waxiness  and  fragrant  with  their 
own  sweet  honey  odour  ;  Dipteris  horsjieldi  and  other  ferns, 
and  plants,  nowhere  else  to  be  seen  on  the  mountain,  grew  in 
the  steaming  mud ;  while  Rhododendron  retusum  stretched  its 
roots  out  into  the  fuming  streams,  which  boiled  and  bubbled 
over  out  of  the  rumbling  cauldrons  below. 

The  Dipteris  fern  is  not  found  in  Java  much  farther  to  the 
east.  A  line  through  the  longitude  of  Samarang,  which  ap- 
pears to  be  its  eastern  boundary,  is  also  the  western  limit  of 
the  teak  (Tedona  grandis),  of  the  camphor  tree  {Brijohalanops 
eamphora),  and  of  several  species  of  palms  (Borassus  Jiahellifor- 
mis),  and  several  species  of  Canjota  and  other  trees,  which  are 
not  found  in  West  Java,  though  abundant  in  Sumatra.  Mr. 
Wallace  has  j)ointed  out  how  much  he  found  the  Ornithology 
of  the  eastern  to  difi'er  from  that  of  the  western  portion  of 
the  island;  and  among  mammalia,  I  am  told  by  intelligent 
natives,  neither  the  rhinoceros  nor  the  Badger-headed  Mydaus 
crosses  this  boundary  eastward. 

Outside  the  rim  of  the  craters,  where  the  ground  had  begun 
as  it  were  to  heal,  broad  patches  of  a  beautiful  species  of  lichen 
{Cladonia  vidcanica)  covered  the  surface,  each  tijD  of  its  pale 
grey  thallus  crowned  with  a  fructifying  scarlet  disk.  This 
is  the  lowly  vegetation  with  which  Nature,  when  a  crater  has 
become  extinct,  first  slowly  hides  the  wounds  her  strife  has 
made,  while  scars  made  by  landslips  are  concealed  in  a  single 
season  with  a  luxuriant  covering  of  bananas. 


JN  JAVA.  116 

During  the  rainy  season  the  thunder  of  slopes  laden  with 
forest  trees  and  shrubs  crashing  down,  often  for  hundreds  of 
feet  into  the  valleys,  was  a  daily  sound,  which  impressed  me 
with  the  supreme  potency  of  rain  as  an  agent  in  planing  down 
the  mountains  and  widening  the  valleys.  I  have  often  been 
astonished  at  the  rapidity  with  which  even  a  small  stream  will 
carry  away  the  debris  of  a  great  landslip.  When  a  heavy 
gale  accompanies  continued  rains,  the  fall  of  giant  trees  on 
the  narrowed  ridges  of  mountains,  is  very  often  the  cause  of 
extensive  landslips  into  both  the  adjacent  valleys,  which 
lowers  down  by  very  perceptible  degrees  their  barrier  ridges. 

Among  the  more  interesting  zoological  objects  of  this 
district  added  to  my  collection,  were  the  Sipliia  hanjumas, 
a  fairy  fly-catcher  of  a  beautiful  azure  blue,  whose  nest,  a 
thing  of  beauty  like  itself,  I  found  cunningly  concealed  and 
protected  by  the  curled  edges  of  a  Buhus  leaf  and  containing 
a  delicate,  pure  white  egg  dotted  over  with  brownish-red  spots  ; 
a  sea-green  magpie  {Cissa  tlialassina),  with  brown  wings,  coral 
beak  and  legs ;  and  a  handsome  shrike  (Laniellus  leucogram- 
inicus),  known  only  from  Java.  Civet-cats  were  very  abundant ; 
and  the  nocturnal  scaly  anteater  or  pangolin  (Maiiis)  was 
pretty  often  captured  in  the  evening,  while  clumsily  climbing 
on  the  trees,  licking  up  with  amazing  rapidity  streams  of 
ants,  which  are  its  sole  food — an  interesting  form  especially 
to  the  embryologist  and  the  genealogist,  who  find  in  its 
structures  surviving  "  marks  of  ancientness,"  which  have 
greatly  helped  to  unravel  the  mammalian  pedigree. 

Another  slow  prowler,  the  Mijdaus  meliceps,  very  often  made 
my  evening  hours  quite  unbearable  by  the  intensely  offensive 
odour  with  which,  even  in  its  most  inoffensive  frame  of  mind, 
it  hedged  its  crepuscular  walks  for  at  least  a  mile  round.  It 
was  no  use  to  try  to  frighten  it  away,  for  if  its  equanimity  wore 
disturbed  it  did  not  haste  to  his  lair  as  one  could  have  desired. 
It  thickened,  instead,  the  very  air  with  a  malignant  scent  that 
clung  to  one's  garments,  furniture  and  food  for  weeks.  Hors- 
field  has  stated  that  it  is  exclusively  confined  to  mountains 
rising  over  TOGO  feet,  "  and  tliat  on  these  it  occurs  with  the 
regularity  of  some  jilants  extending  from  one  end  of  the  island 
to  otlier  on  the  numerous  disconnectod  summits."  Its  altitu- 
dinul  distribution  is,  however,  not  nearly  so  restricted  as  hero 


IIG  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDEBINGS 

stated,  for  I  have  encountered  it  on  hills  and  hot  plateaus  at 
all  elevations  down  to  below  500  feet  above  the  sea ;  and  it  is 
said  not  to  extend  to  East  Java.  The  native  has  a  superstition 
that  if  a  man  has  fortitude  enough  to  eat  its  flesh  he  will  have 
become  proof  against  sickness  of  all  kinds. 

In  the  forests  on  the  southern  slopes  of  the  Malawar  and  the 
Wayang,  the  banteng  {Bos  hanteng)  lived  in  considerable 
herds.  The  full-grown  animal  has  a  magnificent  head  of 
horns,  and  I  was  very  anxious  to  secure  such  a  trophy  ;  but 
only  after  the  most  wary  and  patient  stalking  was  I  able  to 
get  within  range  of  a  herd  of  them,  and  then  only  of  a  calf 
with  immature  horns.  No  more  bellicose  and  dangerous 
inhabitant  of  the  forest  than  a  wounded  bull  need  hunter  care 
to  encounter. 

The  baying  of  troops  of  Adjags  or  wild  dogs  often  reached 
my  ears,  but  in  all  my  efforts  to  meet  them  in  full  hunt  I  was 
disappointed.  The  native  accounts — repeated  to  me  in  Sumatra 
a  year  later,  in  identically  the  same  terms — of  their  manner  of 
hunting  credits  them  with  so  much  intelligence,  if  not  reason, 
that  I  was  anxious  to  witness  the  performance  for  myself. 
Their  food  is  chiefly  the  Kanijil  and  the  Mimtjac  deer,  and  the 
natives  in  both  countries  averred  that,  on  discovering  a  patch 
of  alang-alang  grass  in  which  these  are  hiding,  the  adjags  first 
urinate  all  the  grass  in  a  circle  round  their  fugitives,  then 
drive  them  out,  when,  blinded  and  maddened  by  the  pain  of 
the  pungent  urine  in  their  eyes,  they  fall  an  easy  prey  to  the 
dogs.  They  are  so  exceedingly  shy  and  wary  that  it  is 
difficult  to  secure  a  shot,  and  I  obtained  only  a  single  speci- 
men in  bad  condition.  As  soon  as  the  fact  became  known  I 
had  quite  a  crowd  beseeching  for  shreds  of  its  skin,  or  if  not 
that  for  a  few  hairs  or  some  portion  of  its  body,  to  suspend  or 
to  burn  with  a  form  of  words  near  their  rice-fields,  as  a  charm 
to  keep  off  evil  influences  from  the  crop.  The  whole  of  the 
carcase  was  cut  up  by  them,  distributed,  and  carefully  carried 
away  for  this  purpose  ! 

Such  forms  of  words  are  implicitly  believed  in,  as  I  had  an 
opportunity  one  day  of  learning  from  a  dealer  in  krisses,  who 
came  to  my  house  to  trade.  He  was  very  anxious  for  me  to 
buy  a  blade,  and  carefully  showed  me  how  to  select  one  that 
would  not  fail  me  in  time  of  need.     To  be  a  trusty  weapon  for 


IN  JAVA.  117 

me,  it  ought  to  be  especially  made  to  some  measure  of  my  own 
body — of  hand,  arm  or  thigh,  of  the  breadth  of  my  two  thumbs 
or  of  my  span ;  but  to  discover  the  same  potency  in  a  ready- 
made  blade,  I  ought  to  divide  a  straw  or  a  grass-stem,  of  equal 
length  with  the  blade,  into  as  many  lengths  as  it  contains  of  its 
own  breadth  at  a  distance  from  the  hilt  of  twice  the  measure  of 
the  first  joint  of  the  thumb.  These  pieces  laid  on  the  blade 
alternately  lengthwise  and  crosswise  would  reveal  the  suitability 
of  the  weapon  for  my  use,  by  the  direction  of  the  last  piece — 
crosswise  it  would  indicate  a  fence — "  a  bar  sinister  "  :  leno-th- 
wise,  no  obstruction — a  favourable  omen.  Another  test  was  to 
measure  its  length  by  the  breadth  of  my  right  and  left 
thumbs  alternately,  repeating  at  each  alternation  one  of  the 
words,  "  Sri,  Lungu,  Bunia,  Rara,  Pati,  Sri,"  &:c.,  and  according 
to  which  of  these  words  should  fall  to  the  last  thumb-breadth 
would  the  blade  be  for  me  a  wise  choice  or  not.  Sri  beiner  a 
ilesignation  of  honour,  and  Dunia,  signifying  the  world,  would 
therefore  be  good  omens;  whereas  Bara,  meaning  sickness, 
and  Pati,  death,  would  indicate  misfortune,  and  the  purchase  of 
such  a  kriss  would  bring  me  disaster.  In  much  the  same  way, 
I  can  recollect  how  as  boys  we  used  to  augur  our  destiny  by 
the  number  of  buttons  on  our  garments, — whether  we  were  to 
become  "  a  soldier,  a  sailor,  a  tinker,  a  tailor,  a  hangman,  a 
lawyer  or  a  thief." 

In  the  beginning  of  J\[ay  I  left  my  bungalow  on  this 
salubrious  piateau  on  my  return  to  Buitenzorg.  Everywhere 
the  golden  rice-iields  were  dotted  with  harvesters,  their 
lacquered  hats  resplendent  in  blue  and  gold,  the  brown 
shoulders  of  the  men  and  the  scarlet  calicoes  of  the  women 
and  children  in  the  midst  of  the  yellow  grain,  forming  bright 
pictures  in  the  sunny  landscape  all  along  the  way. 

After  a  few  weeks  in  Buitenzorg  and  Batavia,  spent  in 
packing  up  and  despatching  my  collections,  I  left  fcr  Telok- 
betong,  in  South  Sumatra. 


118 


A    NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


APPENDIX  TO  PART  II. 


I  Description  of  a  new  Bat  from  Java,  of  the  (jenus  KerivouJa.  By  Old- 
field  Thomas,  F.Z.S.,  Assistant  in  the  Zoological  Department, 
British  Museum. 

[From  the  Anmds  and  Magazine  of  Natural  History,  for  June  1880.] 

The  ppecimen  .upon  which  this  description  is  based  was  obtained  by 
Mr.  H.  O.  Forbes  at  Kosala,  in  Bantam,  Java,  2100  feet  above  the  sea, 
on  the  24th  of  September,  1879,  and  is  now  in  the  British  Museum. 


Kerivoula  javana. 

Fur  greyish-black,  each  hair  being  nearly  black  for  its  proximal  third, 
then  white  for  the  mid  tie  third,  the  end  being  black,  with  sometimes  a 
shining  white  tip.  Ears  rather  short ;  laid  forward  they  reach  to  about 
half-way  between  the  eyes  and  the  tip  of  the  nose.  Shape  of  ears  and 
tragus  exactly  as  in  K.  jigori,  the  former  having  the  second  small  con- 
cavity in  the  middle  of  the  outer  edge,  and  the  latter  the  deep  horizontal 
notch  above  the  external  basal  lobule  described 
in  that  species,  as  shown  in  the  wood-cut.  Dis- 
tribution of  fur  as  in  K.  2^a2yitensi.s,  there  being 
short  shining  yellowish  hairs  thickly  set  along  the 
forearm,  on  the  thumb  quite  to  the  claw,  all  along 
the  second  finger,  on  both  phalanges  of  the  third, 
and  on  the  digital  phalanges  of  the  fourth  and 
fifth  fingers.  There  arc  also  a  few  hairs  on  the 
proximal  end  of  the  fifth  metacarpal.  The  tail 
and  t!;e  hind  limbs  quite  to  the  bases  of  the 
claws  are  covered  with  similar  hairs ;  the  edge  of  the  interfemoral, 
however,  is  without  a  fringe.  The  teeth  are  quite  similar  to  those  of 
K.  papuensis. 

K.  javana  is  thus  intermediate  between  K.  jagori,  a  Philippine  species, 
and  K.  papuensis,  from  New  Guinea,  differing  from  the  latter  in  the  shape 
of  the  ears  and  tragus,  and  by  the  absence  of  an  interfemoral  fringe,  and 
from  the  former  by  the  presence  of  fur  upon  the  limbs,  that  species 
havirg  these  quite  naked.  It  differs  from  both,  however,  in  the  tricolor 
character  of  the  fur,  as  they  are  of  a  nearly  uniformly  dark  reddish  brown 
colour,  though  the  tips  of  the  hairs  are  lighter. 

Measurements  of  the  type,  an  adult  female  in  spirit:  Length,  head 
and  body  1-93",  tail  1-72",  head  078",  ear  06",  tragus  0  37",  forearm  1-53", 
thumb  0-27",  third  finger  30",  fifth  finger  22",  tibia  072",  foot  0-35". 


HEAD   OF    K.    JAVAXA. 


7.V  JAVA.  119 


II.  On  a  new  Genus  of  Spiders.  By  Eev.  0.  P.  Cambridge,  M.A.,  C.M.Z.S.,  &c. 
(Extracted  from  ne  Proc.  ZooJ.  Soc,  1831,  p.  196  et  sejq.) 

Mr.  H.  0.  Forbes  has  lately  described  {Proceedings  of  the  Zoological 
Society,  1883,  p.  580,)  under  tlie  provisional  name  of  T/iomisus  decipiens, 
the  habits  of  a  spider  which  he  met  with  in  Java.  The  spider  itself  is 
remarkable  from  its  exact  resem1)lance  to  the  drojjpings  of  a  bird ;  and  it 
is  still  more  remarkable  from  the  increased  resemblance  added  in  the 
spinning  of  a  thin  white  web  on  the  surfiice  of  a  leaf,  by  means  of  which 
it  secures  itself,  on  its  back,  to  the  leaf,  leaving  its  legs  free  to  enclose  and 
seize  any  insect  unwittingly  resting  upon  or  crossing  the  apjxarantly 
innocuous  bird-dropping.  Mr.  Forbes  kindly  sent  me  the  spider  for 
examination  before  writing  an  account  of  its  habits.  I  immediately 
lecognised  its  near  affinity  to  an  East-Indian  spider  (Tlioniisus  tuberosus, 
Bl.),  of  which  1  po.ssess  the  typi3  specimen  ;  but,  unable  at  the  moment  to 
make  a  thorough  examination  and  search  through  books  and  specimens, 
conjectured  that  it  was  allied  to  some  spiders  described  by  Dr.  Karsch, 
and  to  one  sent  me  some  years  ago  from  South  Africa.  A  more  comijlete 
examination  since  made  has  convinced  me  that  these  latter  species 
(referred  to  by  Mr.  Forl>es)  belong  to  entirely  different  groujis.  I  find, 
however,  in  my  collection  two  other  spiders,  from  Ceylon  and  Bombay, 
of  the  same  genus  and  very  closely  allied  in  species,  but  quite  distinct 
from  that  which  Mr.  Forbes  notes.  Upon  these,  together  with  the  one 
last  mentioned  and  Ihomisus  tuberosus.,  Bl.,  I  have  ventured  to  found  a 
new  genus,  and  I  beg  to  record  my  thanks  to  its  discoverer  for  so  kindly 
sending  me  an  cxamijle  of  Thomisus  decipiens  and  for  having  also  made 
known  to  us  the  very  peculiar  and  interesting  habits  belonging,  not  only 
to  that  spider,  but  also,  I  have  little  doubt,  to  other  closely  allied 
species.* 

In  his  desciiption  of  the  habits  of  T.  decipiens,  Mr.  Forbes  expresses 
the  difficulty  he  has  in  understanding  the  formation  by  the  spider  of  a 
web  which,  while  serving  to  attach  itself  to  the  leaf,  at  the  same  time  r,o 
exactly  represents  the  fluid  portion  of  abird's-dropping  spread  out  on  the 
leaf  around  the  more  solid  parts;  and  his  concluding  sentences  seem  to 
me  to  imply  the  conclusion  that  the  spider  consciously  supplements  the 
effects  of  natural  selection  on  its  form  and  resemblance  to  the  solid  ex- 
creta, by  spinning  a  web  to  resemble  the  fluid  ])ortion.  It  sccnij;  to  me, 
on  the  contrary,  that  the  Avhole  is  easily  explained  by  the  operation  of 
natural  selection,  without  suppo-ing  consciousness  in  the  s]>ider  in  any 
part  of  the  process.  Tlic  web  spun  on  the  surface  of  the  leaf  is  evidently, 
so  far  as  the  spider  has  any  design  or  conscioiisness  in  the  matter,  spun 
simply  to  secure  itself  in  the  proper  position  to  await  and  seize  its  prey. 
The  silk,  •which  by  its  fineness,  whiteness,  and  close  adhesion  to  the  leaf 
causes  it  to  resemble  the  more  fluid  parts  of  the  excreta,  would  gradually 
attain  those  qualities  by  natural  selection,  just  as  the  spider  itself  would 
gradually,  and  i)robably  pari  p'lssu,  become,  under  the  influence  of  the 
same  law,  more  and  more  like  the  solid  portion. 

*  Duleschiill  ('  Twcede  Bijdra^e  tot  dc  Kcunis  dcr  Arachniden  van  den  In- 
diechen  Arcliipel,'  p.  5S,  pi.  xi.  fy^s.  i)  iind  Qa)  de-scribes  and  fignroi,  also  from  Java, 
a  spider  ( T/io)iii*iMJ!  (Ugnnnili'',  iJol.)  po.ssibly  of  this  genus,  and  perhaps  nearly 
allied  tf)  T.  (heifiiing;  hut  the  description  is  too  nioagro  and  general  to  cnablo 
any  certain  conclusion  to  be  drawn  from  it,  and  the  figure  given  of  the  eyes  ia 
totally  unlike. 


120  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


Fam.    ThOMISID^. — ORNITHOSCAXOiDES. 

Cephalotlwrax  short,  broad,  as  broad  or  broader  than  long,  moderately 
convex  above  and  slightly  tubercnlosc ;  caput  short,  truncate  in  front,  and 
strongly  compressed  on  its  lateral  margins. 

Eyes  in  two  curved  rows,  the  anterior  shortest  (the  convexity  of  the 
curves  directed  forwards,  and  forming  a  crescent) ;  small,  not  greatly 
differing  in  size,  but  the  four  laterals  are  largest,  and  the  four  centrals 
smallest ;  those  of  the  lateral  pairs  are  seated  on  or  at  the  base  of  tuber- 
culosc  eminences. 

Ealccs  strong,  not  very  long,  conical,  and  nearly  vertical. 

MaxiUce  moderatt-ly  long  and  strong,  a  little  wider  at  the  top  than  in 
the  middle ;  rounded  at  the  top  on  the  cuter  side,  and  slightly  leaning 
over  the  labium,  which  is  about  half  the  length  of  the  maxillae,  and  of  a 
somewhat  oblong  form  rounded  at  the  apex. 

Sternuir,  oblong-oval. 

Legs  strong,  moderately  long,  1,  2,  4,  3 ;  tho.^e  of  the  first  and  second 
pairs  much  the  strongest  and  longest,  but  nearly  equal  in  length ;  those 
also  of  the  third  and  fourth  pairs  are  nearly  of  equal  length  and  strength. 
All  are  somewhat  roughened  or  tuberculose,  especially  those  of  the  first 
two  pairs,  and  furnislied  with  spines  of  varied  length  and  strength  ;  those 
on  tlio  tibise  and  metatarsi  of  the  two  anterior  pairs  are  strungest,  tho 
longest  forming  two  parallel  longitudinal  rows  beneath  the  joints.  The 
legs  terminate  with  two  strong,  curved,  pectinated  claws,  beneath  which 
is  a  small  claw-tuft.  Among  the  spines  are  one  or  two  not  very  long, 
rather  strong,  of  a  pale  colour  or  semi-diaphanous  appearance,  on  the 
upper  sides  of  the  femora  ;  these  spines  have  a  peculiar  function  as 
observed  in  one  of  the  species,  and  may  very  possibly  be  of  generic  value, 
though  spines  of  various  sizes  arc  found  similarly  situated  in  many 
other  Tliomisid  genera,  while  their  special  function  (if  any)  has  not  been 
yet  observed,  so  far  as  I  am  aware,  in  other  instances. 

The  palpi  terminate  with  a  single  pectinated  claw. 

Abdomen  hvoadmx  behind  than  in  front  and  truncated  at  both  extemities; 
the  upper  surface  and  hinder  part  more  or  less  thickly  covered  Avith 
round  or  subconical,  shining,  or  other  tubercular  elevations.  The  spin- 
ners are  short,  stout,  and  closel\  grouped  within  a  somewhat  circular 
sheath-like  cincture  much  resembiing  the  disposition  of  those  of  many 
Epeirids. 

OltNITHOSACATOJDES   EECIPIKNS. 

Thomisus  decipiens.  Forbes,  P.  Z.  S.  1883,  p.  586,  pi.  LI.  Adult  female, 
length  rather  above  Gi  lines. 

The  general  colour  of  this  spider  is  a  hoary  or  yellowish  ashy  grey 
marked  with  black.  The  abdomen  has  a  large,  somewhat  quadrate  black 
patch  at  the  middle  of  its  binder  extremity;  on  this  patch  are  placed 
eight  shining  roundish  dark-brown  tubercles;  the  four  largest  form  a 
transverse,  unequally-sided  parallelogram  at  the  foro  part  of  the  black 
patch  ;  the  other  four,  which  are  much  the  smallest,  ibrm  a  longer  trans- 
verse parallelogram  immediately  behind  the  other.  At  the  hinder  part 
also,  on  either  side  of  the  shining  tubercles,  are  several  strong  tuberculi- 
form  eminences  or  prominences,  of  a  similar  kind  to  which  are  also  four 
small  ones  in  a  transverse  line  at  the  extreme  fore  margin  ;  some  other 
depressed  spots  or  pits  are  also  disposed  on  the  upper  surface,  with  a 
dark  blackish  suffused  patch  at  the  middle  of  the  anterior  extremity,  and 
another  on  each  side  just  in  f]-ont  of  the  foremost  lateral  eminence. 


IN  JAVA.  121 

The  cephahthorax  has  a  black  irregular  patch  on  each  side  of  the 
hinder  part  of  the  thoracic  region.  The  ocular  region  is  somewhat 
suffused  with  blackish,  and  an  irregular  black,  somewhat  V-shaped 
marking  indicates  the  junction  of  the  caput  and  thorax.  The  two 
anterior  pairs  of  legs  have  some  black  suffused  markings  on  the  ujjper 
side  of  the  femora,  the  fore  half  (or  rather  more)  of  the  tibiae,  the  meta- 
tarsi, and  tarsi  of  those  two  pairs  being  almost  wholly  black ;  while  the 
two  hinder  pairs  have  only  an  irregular  black  marking  here  and  there. 

The  spines  on  the  tibiae  and  metatarsi  of  the  first  and  second  jmirs  of 
legs  are  numerous,  long,  strong,  and  conspicuous. 

The  pale  ones  (mentioned  above)  on  the  upper  sides  of  the  femora  are 
used,  according  to  Mr.  Forbes's  observations,  to  secure  the  spider  on  its 
hack  to  a  patcli  of  whitish  silk  si:)un  upon  the  surface  of  a  leaf.  When  so 
secured  the  spider  has  the  exact  appearance  of  the  droppings  of  some 
bird,  and  the  white  silk  patch  emerging  irregularly  outside  the  spider  has 
the  appearance  of  the  more  liquid  portion  of  the  droppings  flowing  out 
and  drying  on  the  leaf.* 

The  eyes  of  each  row  respectively  are  equidistant  from  each  other,  but 
those  of  the  fore-central  jDair  form  a  shorter  line  than  those  of  the  hind- 
central  pair.  The  four  central  eyes  form  a  square  whose  anterior  side  is 
the  shortest;  and  the  height  of  the  clypeus,  which  projects  forwards, 
is  nearly  about  equal  to  half  that  of  the  facial  space. 

The  hjs  are,  as  described  in  the  generic  diagnosis,  strong  and  minutely 
tuberculose,  the  tibiaj  being  of  a  peculiar  bent  form. 

A  single  exaraj^le  was  found  by  Mr.  Forbes  in  W.  Java,  and  at  a  later 
period  a  second  on  the  Musi  lliver,  Sumatra 

*  Mr.  Forbes  lias,  since  the  above  wns  printed,  remarked  to  me  that  in  tlic  two 
instanced  wliich  came  nnder  liis  notice,  the  resemblance  extended  even  to  the 
running  down  of  the  fluid  excreta  towards  the  lower  side  of  the  sloping  leaf, 
ending  in  a  kind  of  knob.  Mr.  Forbes  also  expressly  disclaimed  the  idea  of 
crediting  the  spider  wi(h  any  conscious  design,  but  he  says  that  "the  similitude 
is  so  exact,  that  the  spider  might  have  had  consciousness,  and  it  could  not  have 
been  more  exact  if  tlie  spider  did  have  it."  Is  not  its  exactness  probably  tlio 
result  of  tiie  unconsciousness  of  the  spider?  Conscious  design  would  possibly 
have  resulted  in  failure  and  alandoniiig  the  plan,  or  at  least  in  a  more  clumsy 
imitation. 


PAET    III. 
IN  SUMATRA. 


ANaurraJ  St?;  '.^aadwingB  ludieEASTiem-frtinf ela^< 


SKETCH  MAP 

SOUTH   SUMATRA 

shewing  (he  Author's  route 
Koute  t/uwi    ■    ■ 


The  houndary  bju:  ofOie  Mtimt/iuts  nji.  East  &  HVrt 
is  drawn  -where  they  aJXain  arLeJevntioTvafSOOfeet . 
Itills  bfXnw  f hat  elevation- ar^not  iiulicateti 
Tfie  portion  Oi  Its  shaded  CU  inStcatt^  alUjA'lal  lands 


Harper  *(.  Tirotfaera  Hew  York 


1 


CHAPTER  I. 

SOJOURN  IN  THE  LAMPONGS — Continued. 

Leave  Batavia  for  Telok-betong — Lnmpong  Bay — Telok-betong — Leave  for 
Gedong-tetahan — Forest  scenery  by  the  way — Escajie  from  a  tiger — 
Flowers  in  the  forest — Gedong-tetahan — Birds  and  insects  there  — Move 
to  Kotta-djawa — The  village — Ruthless  destruction  of  the  forest — Trees 
—  Entomological  treasures — Move  to  Gunung  Trang — The  pepper  trade 
— Birds  there — Interesting  butterflies. 

Embarking  at  Batavia  on  the  morning  of  the  ISth  of  No- 
vember, 1880,  our  course  Liy  westward  through  the  Thousand 
Ishinds  into  the  Straits  of  Sunda,  where,  rounding  the  base 
of  the  Rajabasa  volcano,  we  steamed  up  the  Lampong  Bay, 
between  its  scalloped  shores  girt  by  high  hills — the  southern 
fork  of  that  unbroken  chain  which,  commencing  in  the  north 
of  the  island,  runs  down  the  western  coast,  and  trifurcates 
before  reaching  the  extremity  of  the  island  to  form  two  bavs, 
on  the  west  Kaiser's  Bay,  and  on  the  east  Lampong  Bay. 
As  we  steamed  under  the  shade  of  these  peaks,  the  sun  went 
down  tingiug  the  crests  on  our  left  with  gold,  and  those  on 
our  riglit  with  the  richest  purple. 

Before  we  dropped  anchor  off  the  little  town  the  full  moon 
had  come  out ;  and  one  can  scarcely  say  which  was  fairer,  the 
sun-lit  panorama  of  the  day's  sail,  or  the  moon-lit  landscape, 
with  the  pale,  soft  light  on  the  hills,  whose  slopes  guided 
the  eye  down  to  the  white  circle  of  the  shore-line,  on  which 
the  palm-trees,  everywhere  dotting  its  luargin,  had  their 
crowns  transformed  into  flashing  plumes  of  silver. 

Telok-betong  is  the  chief  town  of  the  Lampong  Residency, 
which  forms  the  most  southerly  province  of  Sumatra.  Be- 
sides the  Resident  and  the  chief  administrative  civil  officers, 
the  only  other  European  iidiabitants  were  the  commandant,  a 
couple  of  lieutenants,  and  a  surgeon  Dr.  ]\Iachik,  an  enthusi- 
astic ichthyologist  and  conchologist,  in  charge  of  a  native  gar- 
10 


126  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


rison  of  some  200  men.  In  addition  to  the  true  natives  of  the 
town,  there  was  a  large  campong  of  Chinese,  a  few  Arabs,  with  a 
considerable  fluctuating  population  of  traders  from  Borneo  and 
Celebes,  and  other  islands  of  the  Archipelago.  The  Buginese 
or  Celebes  men  are  by  far  the  most  skilled  navigators,  and  the 
greatest  traders  of  them  all ;  Macassar  praus  being  famous 
throughout  the  Eastern  seas  for  their  voyages  made  without 
compass,  yet  rarely  with  mishap,  from  the  eastern  coasts  of 
New  Guinea  to  the  Indian  Ocean  in  the  west,  trading  in  their 
native-made  cloths,  in  the  lovely  lories  which  they  bring  from 
east  of  their  own  shores,  and  in  the  native  Macassar  oil.  The 
town  was,  therefore,  before  its  destruction  by  the  terrible 
earthquake  wave  of  August  1883,  inhabited  by  a  rather  hete- 
rogeneous collection  of  islanders ;  and,  in  consequence  of  each 
race  building  their  domiciles  according  to  the  fashion  in  their 
own  country,  it  was  very  irregular ;  but  what  it  lost  in  this 
respect  it  gained  in  picturesqueness.  It  stood  but  little  above 
the  level  of  the  sea,  on  a  low  narrow  flat,  which  intervened 
between  the  shore  and  the  very  abruptly  rising  hills,  on  whose 
slope  are  situated  the  Government  offices  and  some  of  the  Euro- 
pean residences,  commanding  a  most  lovely  view  of  the  bay. 

One  cannot  examine  a  map  of  Sumatra  without  being  struck 
by  the  singular  disposition  of  the  land.  Along  the  whole 
length  of  the  west  coast  is  found,  as  already  remarked,  a  long 
ranjie  of  mountains  with  their  outliers,  while  to  the  east  of 
the  Barisan,  as  this  range  is  named,  not  a  mountain,  and 
scarcely  even  a  hill,  is  to  be  seen.  The  entire  eastern  portion 
is  one  vast  plain,  of  which  immense  tracts  often  lie  at  a  time 
under  water — the  word  Lampong  signifies  "  bobbing  on  the 
water."  One  may  travel  in  some  parts  in  a  straight  line  west- 
ward from  the  east  coast  for  150  or  200  miles  without  reach- 
inof  an  elevation  of  over  400  or  500  feet,  while  some  30  miles 
farther  the  Barisan  peaks  may  ascend  to  over  10,000  feet. 

After  a  short  stay  in  the  town,  I  started  for  Gedong-tetahan, 
some  twenty  miles  north,  provided  by  the  Resident  with  a  man- 
date to  the  chiefs  of  the  various  margas  or  districts  through 
which  my  road  lay,  commanding  them  to  render  me  every 
assistance.  In  Java  the  traveller  has  to  look  out  for  his  own 
coolies,  with  whom  he  makes  his  own  terms  as  to  distance  and 
remuneration,  and  finds  no  difficulty  in  so  doing  ;  but  here,  the 


JN  SUMATRA.  127 


people  being  more  lethargic,  not  a  single  individual  would  be 
got  to  volunteer  to  work,  however  tempting  the  hire,  but  for 
a  Government  enactment,  then  in  force,  that  the  chief  of 
each  village  be  responsible  for  the  conveyance  of  the  baggage 
of  all  ofiicials  and  persons  travelling  under  the  authority  of 
the  Government  from  his  own  village  to  the  next.  Where 
villages  lay  close  together,  much  time  was  lost  by  changing, 
and  as  within  a  considerable  radius  of  the  coast  they  dotted 
the  wayside  at  every  half  mile  or  less,  progress  was  distressingly 
slow  and  wearying  to  the  temper  as  well  as  to  the  flesh ;  for, 
notwithstanding  the  order  sent  forward  in  advance,  the  coolies 
were  never  on  the  spot ;  one  had  gone  to  eat,  another  had  gone 
in  search  of  his  knife,  without  which  no  one  will  stir,  another 
had  been  taken  sick  quite  suddenly,  and  such  as  were  waiting 
were  ready  to  swear  that  the  baggage  was  twice  the  regulation 
weight — 80  to  90  lbs. — and  they  would  not  touch  it. 

Before  many  of  the  houses  which  I  passed  were  spread  out 
drying  in  the  sun  large  quantities  of  pepper,  what  I  saw  repre- 
senting alone  a  sum  of  money  sufficient  to  feed  their  whole 
families  for  nearly  eighteen  months.  Were  cockfightinf>-  and 
gaming  not  ingrained  in  them  as  a  second  nature,  these  people 
might  amass  great  fortunes  for  their  condition  of  life.  Some 
do,  indeed,  hoard  up  considerable  sums ;  but  one  had  only  to 
look  on  the  children  and  young  girls  to  see  where  a  great  deal 
of  it  went.  Every  girl  is  arrayed  in  sinkels  or  necklets,  of 
various  shapes  of  heavy  silver,  few  or  many,  according  to  the 
wealth  or  position  of  her  parents ;  on  their  arms  rows  and 
rows  of  bracelets,  and  in  their  ears  large  button-like  earrings. 
These  ornaments  are  the  sign  of  a  girl's  maidenhood,  and 
are  worn  till  she  marries.  Tlie  wealth  of  a  Lampong  lady  is 
thus  estimated  by  the  number  and  weight  of  her  ornaments, 
which  are,  however,  fully  displayed  only  on  feast  days  and 
high  occasions.  Most  of  these  ornaments  are  made  by  native 
silver-  or  gold-smiths,  and  are  purchased  weight  for  weight  in 
silver  or  gold  as  the  cas3  may  be. 

After  the  first  few  villages  were  passed,  my  road  lay  mostly 
between  dense  forest,  extending  for  miles  on  botli  sides  of  the 
way.  The  trees  were  magnificent  in  shape  and  foliage — giant 
pillars,  seventy  and  eighty  feet  without  a  branch,  supporting 
superb  leafy  crowns  under  whose  shade  a  thousand  men  might 


128  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINOS 

bivouac,  with  trnnk  and  limbs  entwined  and  warped,  often  even 
to  fatal  strangulation,  by  an  impossible  unravelment  of  lianes 
and  huge  climbers,  which  hung  in  coils  and  loops,  and  stretched 
from  tree  to  tree  for  hundreds  of  yards,  themselves  adorned 
as  with  finely  curving  scroll  work,  with  ferns  and  orchids 
and  delicate  twining  epiphytes.  Beneath  this  shade  a  second 
forest  grows  of  lesser  trees,  below  which  again  a  dense  thicket 
of  low  shrubs  and  herbs,  Caladiums,  and  broad-leaved  Scita- 
minem  (or  Ginger  family)  and  of  horrid  thorn-  and  hook- 
bearing  rattan-palms,  climbing  and  holding  on  to  everything, 
blocking  up  every  unoccupied  space-  -t!ie  whole  forming  an 
impenetrable  wall  of  vegetation. 

In  this  same  portion  of  the  road,  a  few  weeks  later,  while 
returning  from  the  coast,  on  horseback  alone  and  unarmed, 
on  a  pitch  dark  night,  I  had  a  narrow  escape  from  a  tiger. 
My  horse  suddenly  snorted  in  a  strange  manner,  and  came 
to  a  dead  stop  with  its  feet  planted  in  the  ground,  then 
reared  back ;  at  the  same  moment  the  great  body  of  a  tiger 
shot  close  past  my  face  and  alighted  with  a  heavy  thud  in 
the  jungle  on  my  other  side.  Haunted  with  the  idea  that  I 
was  perhaps  being  stalked,  the  night  became  doubly  dismal  to 
me.  My  horse,  a  miserable  pony  at  best,  was  so  terror-stricken 
as  to  be  almost  useless,  and  the  seven  miles  that  I  traversed 
before  the  light  of  my  own  dwelling  flashed  on  me  seemed 
the  longest  I  ever  rode. 

Mr.  Wallaces  truthful  works  have,  or  ought  to  have,  now 
dispelled  the  erroneous  ideas  about  the  wonderful  profusion  of 
fine  flowers  existing  in  the  tropics.  This  is  just  one  of  the 
products  of  "  the  summer  of  the  world  "  that  the  traveller  fails 
to  see  unless  he  search  very  well  and  very  closely.  The  great 
forest  trees  are  too  high  for  one  to  be  able  to  see  whether  they 
bear  either  fruit  or  flowers.  It  is  only  on  rare  occasions — and 
then  the  sight  repays  him  for  many  a  weary  mile — that  he 
alights  on  a  grand  specimen,  whose  top  is  a  blaze  of  crimson 
or  gold ;  more  generally  he  knows  that  some  high  tree,  which 
of  many  it  is  often  very  difficult  to  say,  is  performing  its  func- 
tions by  seeing  broken  petals  or  fallen  fruit  spread  over  yards 
and  yards  of  the  ground.  Of  the  great  mass  of  lower  vege- 
tation nothing  is  seen  but  green  foliage.  Hours  and  hours, 
sometimes  days  even,  I  have  traversed  a  forest-bounded  road. 


IN  SUMATBA.  129 


without  seeing  a  blossom  gay  enough  to  attract  admiration ; 
far  oftener  I  have  stopped  to  pluck  a  gorgeous  fruit.  A  vast 
amount  of  tropical  vegetation  has  small  inconspicuous  flowers 
of  a  more  or  less  green  colour,  so  that  when  they  do  occur 
the  eye  fails  to  detect  them  readily.  The  fresh  green,  the 
rich  pink,  and  even  scarlet  of  the  opening  leaves  are  beautiful 
beyond  description,  and  the  autumn-tinted  foliage  never  ceases 
through  all  the  seasons,  and  with  so  much  colour  one  is  quite 
content  to  forget  the  absence  of  flowers. 

On  the  passing  traveller,  therefore,  the  vegetation  at  the  lower 
elevations  leaves  the  impression  of  a  tangled  heterogeneous 
mass  of  foliage  of  every  shape  and  sliade  mingled  together  in 
such  unutterable  confusion,  tliat  not  one  single  plant  stands 
out  in  anything  like  its  own  individuality  on  his  mind. 

Every  now  and  then  a  curve  of  the  road  brought  me  on  a 
colony  of  Siamang  apes  (Siamanfja  syndactijla),  some  of  them 
hanging  by  one  arm  to  a  dead  branch  of  a  high-fruiting  tree 
with  eighty  unobstructed  feet  between  them  and  the  ground, 
makino-  the  woods  resound  with  their  loud  barkino-  howls. 
The  Siamang  comes  next  in  size  to  the  Orang-utan,  which  is 
the  largest  of  the  great  apes  living  in  this  part  of  the  world, 
and  which  is  found  elsewhere  only  in  the  Malacca  peninsula, 
the  Orang-utan  being  confined  to  ISumatra  and  Borneo. 

The  Siamang  is  a  very  powerful  animal  when  fidl  grown, 
and  has  long  jet-black  glancing  hair.  In  height  it  stands 
little  over  three  feet  three  or  four  inches,  but  the  stretch 
of  its  arms  across  the  chest  measures  no  less  than  five  feet 
five  to  six  inclies,  endowing  it  with  a  great  power  of  rapid 
progression  among  the  branches  of  the  trees.  Its  singular 
cry  is  produced  by  its  inflating,  through  a  valve  from  the 
windpipe,  a  large  sac  extending  to  its  lips  and  cheeks,  situated 
below  the  skin  of  the  throat,  then  suddenly  expelling  the 
enclosed  air  in  greater  or  less  jets,  so  as  to  produce  the  singular 
modulations  of  its  voice. 

Gedong-tetahan  proved  a  very  unfavourable  hunting 
ground,  as  it  was  surrounded  by  unprofitable  alang-alang 
fields.  Nevertheless,  I  obtained  some  interesting  birds. 
Among  them  I  secured  the  crested  bee-eater  {Nydiornis 
amida),  a  beautiful  creature  with  rose-coloured  head  and  a 
throat  of  a  rich  shade  of  vermilion,  which  preferred  the  open 


130  A    NA  TUB  A  LIST'S    WANDERINGS 

wayside  trees  to  the  dense  forest  shade  ;  Rliododytes  diardi, 
one  of  the  cuckoo  family,  with  a  light  green  bill,  and  velvet 
scarlet  eye-wattle ;  and  green  and  black  barbets,  whose  peculiar 
and  incessant  cries  filled  the  air. 

In  the  open  paths  and  sunny  roads  I  netted  scarlet  Piet^idse 
(Appias  nero),  often  flying  in  flocks  of  over  a  score,  exactly 
matching  in  colour  the  fallen  leaves,  which  it  was  amusing  to 
observe  how  often  they  mistook  for  one  of  their  own  fellows 
at  rest,  and  to  watch  the  futile  attentions  of  an  amorous  male 
towards  such  a  leaf  moving  slightly  in  the  wind.  Among  the 
Pieridse,  it  has  been  said  by  Mr.  \V  allace  that  the  male  is  as 
a  rule  more  conspicuous  than  the  female  ;  but  in  this  genus 
Appias — with  the  exception  of  a  little  more  black  in  the  female, 
the  sexes  of  Appias  nero  are  alike — the  female  is  really,  fre- 
quently, more  conspicuously  marked,  and  attracts  the  eye  on 
the  wing  quite  as  readily  as  the  male.  Nearly  all  the  species 
of  CallHryas  and  Catopsilia,  as  Mr.  Butler  has  pointed  out  to 
me  in  specimens  in  the  British  ]\Iuseum,  have  the  females  more 
conspicuously  marked  than  the  males.  Ilebomoia  glaiicippe 
and  its  allies  may  be  instanced,  and  the  genera  Ganoris  and 
Belenois,  as  for  example  B.  eudoxia  and  B.  tlieora,  in  the  latter 
of  which  only  the  female  has  the  front  wings  orange. 

From  Gedong-tatahan  I  moved  a  little  further  west  to  Kotta- 
djawa.  All  along  the  way  crowds  of  Buceros  birds  kept  con- 
stantly flying  overhead  with  their  peculiar  noisy  scream  and 
the  breeze-like  whirr  of  their  wings,  while  from  far  in  the  woods 
came  the  softer  koo-ow  of  the  Argus  pheasants,  than  which, 
among  all  the  feathered  tribes,  scarcely  any  bird  is  lovelier. 
In  Sumatra,  the  Argus  occupies  the  j)lace  held  in  Java  by  the 
Peacock— a  bird  belonging  to  the  same  natural  family — which 
seen  in  its  native  wildness  is  unsurpassed  for  brilliancy  of 
colour  and  decorative  appendages,  but  its  ornamentation  is  too 
gaudy  for  long  contemplation ;  while  in  the  case  of  the  Argus 
Pheasant  one  may  admire  feather  by  feather,  and  the  same 
feather  again  and  again,  and  daily  see  new  beauties.  The  tail 
of  the  peacock  is  formed  by  a  great  development  of  what  is 
technically  known  as  the  upper  tail  coverts,  while  that  of  the 
Argus  pheasant  is  formed  chiefly  by  an  enormous  elongation 
of  the  two  tail  quills  and  of  the  secondary  wing  feathers,  no 
two  of  which  are  exactly  the  same ;  and  the  closer  they  are 


IN  SUM  ATE  A.  131 


examined,  the  greater  is  seen  to  be  tlie  extreme  chasteness  of 
their  markings,  and  their  rich,  varied  and  harmonious  colouring. 
When  ahirmed  the  Argus  escapes  by  running  through  the 
thick  underscrub,  when  the  brilliancy  of  its  plumage,  by  being 
gathered  close  about  its  body,  is  quite  concealed. 

Till  I  had  observed  it  at  a  later  period^  I  was  not  aware  of  its 
habit  of  making  a  large  circus,  some  ten  to  twelve  feet  in 
diameter,  in  the  forest,  which  it  clears  of  every  leaf  and  twig 
and  branch,  till  the  ground  is  perfectly  swept  and  garnished. 
On  the  margin  of  this  circus  there  is  invariably  a  projecting 
branch  or  high-arched  root,  at  a  few  feet  elevation  above  the. 
ground,  on  whicli  the  female  bird  takes  its  place,  while  in  the 
ring  the  male — the  male  birds  alone  possess  great  decoration — 
shows  off  all  its  magnificence  for  the  gratification  and  pleasure 
of  his  consort,  and  to  exalt  himself  in  her  eyes.  It  is  a  strange 
fact  that  when  the  male  bird  has  been  caught — these  birds 
are  much  trapped  by  the  natives,  their  excessive  shyness 
making  it  almost  impossible  to  shoot  them — the  female  in- 
variably  returns  to  the  same  circus  with  a  new  mate,  even  if 
two  or  three  times  in  succession  her  lord  should  be  caught. 
The  female  bird  is  rarely  caught,  owing  to  her  flying  to  her 
roost  when  approaching  the  circus,  while  the  great  winged 
males  walk  into  the  ring,  which  the  native  skilfully  barricades 
all  round  except  the  one  spot  where  he  sets  his  snare. 

The  houses  in  Kotta-djawa  at  first  sight  looked  as  if  they 
were  all  roof  and  no  body,  for  the  broad  thatched  slopes  and 
gables  reached  down  to  within  five  or  six  feet  from  the  ground, 
where  they  projected  out  somewhat  horizontally,  so  as  to  leave 
a  free  space  all  round  the  square  bamboo  or  bark-made,  box- 
like, propped-up  edifice,  in  which,  protected  from  sun  and  rain, 
most  of  tlie  rice-stamping  and  other  household  operations  were 
performed.  In  south  Sumatra,  though  rivers  abound,  and 
there  is  much  level  land,  the  natives,  till  very  recently,  took 
always  their  rice  crops  from  forest  land,  wliich  produces  a  far 
less  return  of  grain,  of  a  quality,  too,  much  inferior  to  sawah 
(or  wet-field)  grown  corn.  To  make  this  ladang  the  native 
goes  after  the  virgin  forest,  leaving  his  old  fields  to  produce  a 
new  crop  of  trees,  if  the  alang-alang  grass  does  not  get  the 
upper  hand. 

The  virgin  woods  contain  the  really  interestiug  and  valu- 


132  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


able  vegetation  of  the  country  ;  these  trees  being,  to  a  great 
extent,  the  lineal  descendants  of  the  vegetation  that  has 
always  existed  on  the  island  since  it  came  into  its  present 
condition  at  least.  Perhaps  indeed  some  of  the  aged  giants 
may  have  actually  witnessed  the  young  days  of  the  present 
geological  cycle.  In  the  virgin  forest  death  and  decay  are 
just  as  rapid  as  anywhere  else;  individual  trees  are  constantly 
falling  out  of  the  ranks,  but  their  place  is  taken  by  younger 
members  either  of  the  same  or  of  neighbouring  species. 
When,  however,  this  ancient  forest  is  devastated  to  any 
great  extent,  either  by  natural  means  or  by  the  woodcutter's 
axe,  the  trees  that  arise  belong  to  a  different  lineage,  the  new- 
wood  is  in  great  bulk  of  different  species,  which,  strange  to  say, 
were  but  rarely  to  be  found  in  the  old  forest. 

As  in  Java  the  original  forest  is  rapidly  disappearing  ;  each 
year  sees  immense  tracts  felled  for  rice  fields,  more  than  is 
actually  necessary,  and  also  much  wanton  destruction  by  wilful 
fires.  Trees  of  the  rarest  and  finest  timber  are  hewed,  half  burned, 
and  then  left  to  rot ;  amid  their  prostrate  trunks  a  couple  of 
harvests  are  reaped,  then  the  ground  is  deserted,  and  soon  fills 
up  with  the  fast-growing  and  worthless  woods,  or  falls  a  prey 
to  the  ineradicable  alang-alang  grass.  Our  children's  children 
will  search  in  vain  in  their  travels  for  the  old  forest  trees  of 
which  they  have  read  in  the  books  of  their  grandfathers ; 
and  to  make  their  acquaintance,  they  will  have  to  content 
themselves  with  what  they  can  glean  from  the  treasured 
specimens  in  various  herbaria,  which  will  then  be  the  only 
remains  of  the  extinct  vegetable  races. 

In  every  clearing,  trees,  from  their  gigantic  size,  have  here 
and  there  escaped  the  axe,  and  been  allowed  to  stand  un- 
molested. One  cannot  resist  a  feeling  of  pity  for  the  solitude 
of  these  towering  monarchs,  whose  grandeur,  concealed  as  they 
stood  amid  the  multitude  of  their  peers,  can  now  be  seen  in 
all  their  stateliness.  They  look  the  very  picture  of  strength  and 
immobility ;  yet,  though  they  have  withstood,  in  the  company 
of  their  fellows,  the  storm  and  sun  of  centuries,  they  survive 
their  solitude  but  a  very  few  seasons,  getting  feebler  year  by 
year,  one  great  limb  after  another  dying  and  dropping  off,  till 
all  life  ceases,  when  some  lightning  flash  or  sudden  blast 
measures  their  noble  stems  on  the  ground. 


IN-  SUMATRA.  133 


To  obtain  specimens  of  the  ancient  arboreal  race  was  a  task 
slow  and  difficult  of  accomplishment ;  for  but  few  trees  could  be 
felled  in  one  day,  and  good  eyes  were  required  to  tell  at  a 
height  of  150ft.  or  200ft.  if  there  were  fruit  or  flower  to  reward 
the  labour  and  time  spent  in  the  operation ;  and  when,  after 
hard  toil,  a  great  tree  came  crashing  down,  letting  in  the 
sunlight  on  the  damp  ground,  the  beauty  of  the  foliage  and  of 
the  flowers  or  fruit  was  often  a  rich  recompense  for  the  labour. 
It  was  a  happy  thing,  that  such  a  giant  could  not  fail  to 
bring  to  the  ground  portions  of  one  or  more  of  his  neighbours 
in  his  downfall,  large  enough  to  atford  grand  specimens. 

No  one  could  fail  to  be  attracted  by  the  at  first  unusual 
sight  of  trees  bearing  their  blossoms,  or  fruit,  or  both,  in  great 
profusion  on  their  bare  trunks.  Of  these  the  oftenest  recurring 
belong  to  a  group  producing  some  of  the  most  beautiful  trees 
and  shrubs  in  the  world,  the  Ternstroemacese,  or  Tea-family, 
to  which  the  Camellia  belongs.  The  pendent  pure  white  or 
pink-flushed,  golden-centred  corollas  of  the  Saurayas,  (duster 
round  their  trunks,  hiding  them  for  twenty  or  thirty  feet  of 
their  height,  like  maypoles  busked  for  a  fete.  Besides  orchids 
and  the  Asdepiadaceai  which  contain  the  wax-plants,  or  Hoyas, 
the  brightest  epiphytes  were  certainly  the  species  of  ^schy- 
nanthes,  many  of  which  have  drooping  bell-flowers  of  the 
deepest  scarlet. 

Zoological  prizes  had  just  as  diligently  to  be  searched  for  as 
botanical  trophies  ;  as  in  the  case  of  flowers,  insects,  birds  and 
other  animals  do  not  wait,  even  in  the  profuse  tropics,  at  every 
blossom,  or  on  every  branch  for  the  collector's  net  and  the 
hunter's  gun.  In  the  depths  of  the  virgin  forest  little  life  is  to 
be  seen  ;  there,  an  oppressive  silence  reigns.  One  hears  occasion- 
ally only  a  distant  note  from  some  bird  or  mammal,  or  the  stridu- 
lating  of  a  cicad  on  a  tree  trunk  far  out  of  eye-shot,  and  in  the 
second  growth,  if  these  are  more  abundant  as  the  ear  asserts, 
they  are  as  difficult,  from  numerous  obstacles  to  sight  and 
progress,  to  see  or  secure.  The  ornithologist  and  the  entomo- 
logist obtain  most  of  their  treasures  in  the  small  virgin  forest 
patches  in  the  neighbourhood  of  villages,  in  wide  shady  paths 
in  the  great  forest,  and  along  sunny  walks  amid  the  opened 
portions  of  the  second  growth. 

I  was  fortunate  in  finding  a  little  of  all  this  description  of 


134  A    NATURALIST'S    'WANDERINGS 

country  at  Kotta-djawa.  My  favourite  resort  was  the  sunny 
pathways,  bordered  by  second  growth  forest  of  some  size, 
where  many  attractive  3Iussamdas,  euphorbiaceous  trees  and 
shrubs,  aud  thick  clumps  of  the  aromatic  and  brightly  varie- 
gated Lantana,  were  always  in  flower. 

The  Lantana  was  one  of  the  greatest  favourites  of  most  kinds 
of  insects  ;  beetles,  bees,  and  butterflies  were  always  present  by 
scores  ;  and  I  observed  that  they  visited  the  different  coloured 
florets  quite  indiscriminately.  Of  the  last  the  swallow-tailed 
species — Pajniio  hrama,  theseus,  arydes,  arjuna,  and  a  lovely 
black-and-white  species  which  is  known  as  Papilio  saturnus 
—  were  specially  abundant,  but  difficult  to  secure,  as  they  were 
greatly  persecuted  by  all  the  otlier  species  feeding  on  it — the 
Pieridas  and  the  dragon-flies  being  their  worst  enemies. 
They  constantly  sailed  round  and  round  in  a  timid  way,  as  if 
watching  for  an  opportunity  to  swoop  in,  but  were  often  so 
driven  off  that  for  half  an  hour  at  a  time  I  have  seen  them 
unable  to  make  one  successful  visit.  The  beautiful  tailed 
Loxuras  and  Aplinpeus  were  also  in  abundance,  while  HyiwJijmnas 
anomala  frequented  the  thick  jungle,  floating  out  at  intervals 
into  the  open.  "This  species  ofters  the  most  remarkable 
case  known  among  butterflies  of  a  reversal  of  the  usual  sexual 
colouring,  the  male  being  always  dull  brown  and  the  female 
glossed  with  rich  blue  .  .  .  The  brilliant  blue  gloss  causes  the 
female  to  resemble  or  mimic  Euplxa  midamus"  (Wallace). 
Mr.  Butler  has  shown  me  in  the  British  Museum,  however, 
males  with  nearly  as  much  blue  as  the  females.  It  is 
singular  that  no  male  of  this  species  is  yet  known  from  Java. 
Specimens  in  the  British  Museum,  named  by  Mr.  AVallace  as 
males  oi  Anomala,  axe  not  from  Java.  Undoubted  males  from 
Malacca  and  Borneo  have  broad  patches  of  blue  towards  the 
border  of  the  front  wings.  The  female  Anomala  from  Java  has 
more  blue  than  the  specimens  of  the  same  sex  from  Borneo, 
and  it  is  not  improbable  that  the  Java  male  may  have  more 
blue  than  the  Bornean.  What  appears  to  be  a  female,  named 
Hypohjninas  v-allaceana  by  Mr.  Butler  from  '  India,'  corresponds 
with  the  male  H.  anomala  (of  AVallace's  description)  in  the 
British  iMuseum  from  Borneo.  The  Euplsea  which  these  species 
mimic  is  common  to  Indo-Malasia. 

From  Kotta-djawa  I  moved  further  westward  to  Guuung- 


IN  SUMATRA.  135 


Trang,  the  chief  centre  of  the  pepper  and  daniTnaT  trade,  where 
there  was  more  high  land  and  virgin  forest.  From  this  village 
alone  in  the  height  of  the  pepper  season  more  than  fiftv  ponv 
loads  go  every  week  to  the  coast,  each  carrying  IJ  piciils, 
or  21*J  Amsterdam  ponnds  weight.  It  is  rare  that  single 
loads  are  sent  down  to  the  coast,  generally  a  small  troop  goes  to- 
gether, and  the  village  square  presents  rather  an  exciting  scene 
in  the  early  morning  of  a  despatch  of  cargo.  The  strong  but 
wofully  skinny  creatures  have,  like  their  masters,  little  relish 
for  hard  work,  and  conduct  themselves  in  the  most  refractory 
manner  possible — objecting  first  of  all  to  be  caught,  then 
resenting  with  teeth  and  limbs  the  impost  of  pack-saddle  and 
bags.  When,  however,  the  last  cord  has  been  adjusted,  after 
many  imprecations  and  Allah-il-Allahs  from  the  pack-master, 
they  give  in  to  the  inevitable  with  perfect  grace,  marching 
off  as  docilely  as  possible  generally  behind  a  belled  leader, 
and  thereafter  require  little  or  no  attention. 

The  price  obtained  for  this  amount  of  pepper  at  the  coast 
amounts  to  about  £118,  no  mean  amount  per  week  (during 
the  season)  for  a  small  village,  whose  only  outlay  consists  in 
the  cost  of  food  and  the  Government  tax  of  one  guilder  per 
head.  It  takes  seven  or  eight  years  for  a  new  pepper  garden 
to  reach  maturity,  but  when  it  is  in  full  bearing,  each  shrub 
will  yield  as  much  as  10s.  8cZ.  worth  of  fruit  in  a  sea-on. 

The  other  great  industry  of  the  place  is  dammar  collecting. 
This  substance,  as  is  well  known,  is  the  resin  which  exudes 
from  notches  made  in  various  species  of  coniferous  and 
dipterocarpous  trees.  Some  of  these,  especially  of  the  latter 
family,  are  immense  giants,  out  of  whose  stem— which  often 
reaches  100  feet  before  branching — the  native  cuts  large 
notches,  at  intervals  of  a  few  feet,  up  to  a  height  of  some 
forty  or  fifty  feet  from  the  ground.  The  tree  is  then  left  for 
three  or  four  months,  when,  if  it  be  a  very  healthy  one,  suf- 
ficient dammar  will  have  exuded  to  make  it  worth  collecting; 
the  yield  may  then  be  as  much  as  ninety-four  Amsterdam 
pounds.  ]\Iost  trees,  however,  exude  a  far  less  quantity  and 
require  a  longer  time. 

The  damar  attam  (from  the  H-tpea  dryohalanoides  and  other 
Dipterooarpex,  and  not  from  the  Dammara  {Coniferpe) ),  a  beau- 
tiful   clear   glass-like    substance— the  "  eye  dammar,"  as    the 


136  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

native  name  signifies — is  the  most  prized,  and  fetches  about 
two  guineas  for  125  Amsterdam  pounds.  The  greater  part  of 
this  goes  to  the  European  market,  to  be  madtj  into  varnishes 
principally,  and  is  purchased  at  the  coast  by  the  Chinese 
traders,  who  in  turn  carry  it  to  Batavia  and  Singapore  to 
resell  it.  A  much  inferior  sort  called  "stone-dammar  '  got 
from  Vatica  eximia,  also  one  of  the  Blpierocarpefe,  is  worth  about 
2s.  iSd.  only  per  125  Amsterdam  pounds,  and  is  purchased  at 
the  coast  by  the  Bugis  from  Celebes  and  the  Bawean  men 
from  near  Borneo,  to  be  used  by  the  native  prau-builders  to 
fill  up  seams  and  leaks.  The  thick,  close,  tough  bark  of  the 
tree,  however,  is  a  much  more  valuable  commodity,  for,  as  it 
can  be  stripped  off  in  immense  sheets,  it  is  greatly  used 
instead  of  planks  or  the  more  open  bamboo  wickerwork,  as 
sides  for  their  houses,  and  is  an  excellent  substitute. 

The  native  distinguishes  his  pepper  shrubs  and  his  dammar 
trees  from  all  other  sorts  by  the  expressive  title  of  pohone 
vang,  or  money  trees.  The  pepper  (calamitously,  he  holds,) 
does  not  grow  wild  in  the  forest  in  any  way  suitable  to  his 
desire,  but  must  be  planted  and  tended.  The  dammar 
requires  no  such  care ;  and  as  he  roams  the  forest,  to  his  eager 
eye  no  tree,  shrub,  or  herb  has  the  slightest  interest  if  it  is  not 
an  unclaimed  jjolione  ivang.  He  has  not  sufficient  interest  in 
those  who  are  to  come  after  him  two  generations  hence — just 
as  his  forefathers  before  him  had  none — to  plant  a  dammar- 
yielding  arboretum ;  he  prefers  to  spend  days  in  hunting  the 
forest  in  their  quest. 

When  he  has  fallen  on  such  a  prize — now  to  be  found  only 
in  the  dense  forest  far  from  any  dwelling-place — he  at  once 
proceeds  to  clear  off  from  under  it  the  surrounding  vegetation, 
and  to  make  several  deep  hacks  or  distinctive  marks  as  the 
sign  of  appropriation.  It  is  then  safe  ;  for  it  is  in  their  code 
of  honour  to  respect  such  a  tree,  not  from  any  high  moral 
principle,  but  from  the  more  interested  reason — lest,  if  to-day 
he  robs  his  neighbour's  dammar,  he  himself,  ^ho  may  to- 
morrow be  the  lucky  finder  of  perhaps  several  richer  trees, 
may  in  like  manner  be  robbed.  There  exists  also  the 
inherited  superstitious  dread  of  some  unknown  evil  to  follow ; 
for  perchance  the  finder  has  hedged  his  property  by  the 
sanctity  of  a  spell,  the   violation   of   which,   will,  sooner   or 


IN  SUMATBA.  137 


later,  it  is  believed,  be  followed  by  the  visitation  of  a  setan  in 
the  form  of  a  sickness  or  misfortune.  If  a  setan  be  supposed  to 
reside  in  any  spot,  not  an  individual  will  be  found  brave 
enough  to  approach  it,  ho^^ever  great  profit  might  accrue  to 
the  venturer. 

In  these  forests  I  added  to  my  collection  some  of  the  fairest 
of  the  feathered  tribes — orange  and  scarlet-crested  woodpeckers, 
green  barbets,  blue  and  bronze  doves,  green  and  scurlet  twitter- 
ing Loriculi ;  and  on  dead  snags  of  the  lonely  outliers  large 
hawks  and  falcons.  Of  mammalian  animals  my  most  interesting 
capture  was  the  Sciiwopterus,  a  flying  squirrel  with  large 
gentle  lemur-like  eyes,  soft  fur,  and  black  margined  parachute 
expansions. 

The  neighbourhood  of  this  village  I  found  to  be  an  excellent 
locality  for  butterflies;  for  there  were  abundance  of  paths 
among  second-growth  forests,  many  open  clumps  of  flowering 
shrubs,  and  hot  sandy  and  pebbly  banks  along  a  broad  and 
shallow  stream  unobstructed  by  bushes,  sunny  corners,  and 
shady  nooks  innumerable.  Almost  every  walk  I  took  is 
indelibly  and  most  delightfully  memorable  by  the  finding  of 
some  gay  or  remarkable  form.  Especially  numerous  were 
those  interesting  species,  which  have  the  gift  of  the  slippers  of 
invisibility  to  rescue  them  in  dangerous  moments.  Frequent- 
ing the  dense  thickets  they  would  flit  out  into  more  open 
spots,  displaying  for  a  few  seconds  the  rich  brilliancy  of  the 
cobalt  of  the  upper  sides  of  their  wings,  then  settling  either 
on  a  dry  leaf,  or  more  commonly  on  the  ground  among  fallen 
foliage  and  twigs,  whose  colour,  exactly  matching  their  closed 
wings,  concealed  them  beyond  power  of  detection.  Of  these 
I  obtained  Amathusia  ametliystus,  Coelites  ejpiminthia,  C.  eupty- 
cliioides  and  Earytela  castelnaui. 

Few  butterflies  can  compare  with  another  of  my  captures 
here,  the  AmUypoiia  eumolpus,  the  upper  sides  of  whose 
wings  are  of  the  most  sparkling  emerald.  A  less  brilliant  but 
very  chaste  species  of  Cyrestes  {C.  p>eriandcr)  fell  also  to  my 
lot  only  after  great  difficulty,  for  it  loves  the  dense  thickets, 
flitting  with  short  flights  from  the  under  side  of  one  leaf  to 
the  under  side  of  another,  where,  spreading  itself  flat  out,  it 
disaj)pears  and  is  not  easy  to  find.  If  with  my  hungers  I 
sat  down  for  a  rest  in  an  open  sunny  spot  after  a  hot  chase,  we 


138  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

were  often  the  centre  of  attraction  for  quite  a  flock  of  a  very 
beautiful  large  butterfly,  Euploea  ochsenheimeri,  which  would 
fearlessly  rest  on  their  naked  bodies  and  on  my  sweating 
hands,  whence  they  allowed  themselves  to  be  captured  be- 
tween the  fingers  in  the  easiest  manner  possible.  Another 
butterfly  also,  the  Cynthia  Juliana,  was  often  caught  at  the 
sweating  bodies  of  the  natives. 


IN  SUMATRA.  189 


CHAPTER  ir. 

SOJOURN  IN  THE  LAMPONGS — Continued. 

Move  towards  the  Tenganms  Monntaiu — Butterflies  found  on  the  journey 
thitlier — Tiohmomon — The  Balai,  a  characteristic  institution — Descent 
of  the  Lampongers — Tlieir  Laniruage — Divisions  of  tiie  province — Titles 
and  dignities  — Ornaments  —  Festivities  and  amusements  —  Marriage 
customs — Move  to  Penanggnngan — Petroleum  and  paraffin  matches — 
Penanggunsfan  —  Great  trees  —  Interesting  plants  and  animals  —  The 
Siamang — Move  to  Terratas — Ascent  of  the  Tenganms  Mountain — Its 
flora  and  fauna — Picturn  to  Penanggnngan  and  to  Batavia. 

In  the  middle  o^  August  I  moved  my  camp  north-westwards 
to  the  viUage  of  Penanggnngan  towards  the  high  peak  of 
the  Tengamus  at  the  top  of  the  Semangka  Bay.  I  followed  a 
native  forest  path,  reported  to  be  good,  but  which  turned  out 
to  be  an  execrable  tunnel  through  a  grove  of  low  rattan-palms, 
whose  delicate  but  unbreakable  tendrils,  banging  down  on  all 
sides,  studded  with  the  sharpest  and  most  unrelenting  hooks, 
were  ever  suddenly  fetching  me  up  by  a  lasso  round  my  neck 
or  body  from  which  no  amount  of  ill-natured  tugging  or  pulling 
would  avail  to  relieve  me,  and  from  whose  thorny  grapnels  I 
could  release  myself  only  by  yielding,  and  stepping  calmly 
backwards.  Here  an  immense  tree-trunk,  six  or  seven  feet  in 
diameter,  lay  athwart  the  path ;  there  a  gigantic  mud  bath, 
the  'Wallowing  hole  of  a  herd  of  elephants,  in  which  my  2)orters 
sank  to  the  waist  and  sometimes  to  the  armpits. 

On  the  way  I  netted  a  large  Ornithoptera  [0.  ami^lirijsus), 
and*  the  first  known  female  of  Amesia  juvenis,  a  day-tiying 
moth  which  mimics  Trepsichrois  mulciher,  while  by  the  margin 
of  a  small  str'^am  I  caught  Leptocircus  virescens,  which  derives 
protection  from  mimicking  the  habits  and  the  appearance  of 
a  dragon-fly,  in  a  crowd  of  which  it  is  often  to  be  found. 
In  form  it  reminded  me  of  the  European  genus  Xemnpti^ra.  It 
flits  over  the  top  of  the  water  fluttering  its  tails,  jerking  up  and 
down  just  as  dragon-flies  do  when  flicking  the  water  with  the 


140  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

tip  of  their  abdomens.  AVhen  it  settles  on  the  ground,  it  is 
difficult  to  see,  as  it  vibrates  in  constant  motion  its  tail  and 
wings,  so  that  a  mere  haze,  as  it  were,  exists  where  it  rests. 

Emerging  from  this  forest,  I  found  myself  in  Tiohmomon, 
a  typical  Lampong  village,  in  a  district  which  had  been  in- 
habited for  many  generations.  The  houses  were  all  substan- 
tially built  of  planks,  with,  in  many  cases,  carved  decorations 
on  the  cross  beams,  and  painted  designs  on  the  intermediate 
panels. 

The  Balai  is  the  most — we  might  almost  say  the  only — 
peculiar  and  characteristic  institution  of  the  Lampongers.  It 
is  always  the  largest  and  most  prominent  edifice  in  the  village, 
situated  apart  from  all  others,  and  in  the  most  central  jjosition. 
It  stands  eight  or  ten  feet  from  the  ground,  on  massive  pillars 
formed  of  great  tree-stems,  and  is  built  generally  of  f)lanks 
of  wood,  or  of  bamboo  wicker-work.  It  is  evident  that 
much  labour  has  been  bestowed  on  it,  for,  as  a  rule,  it  indi- 
cates the  highest  available  workmanship,  as  it  is  the  result  of 
the  combined  labour  of  the  whole  community.  It  is  lofty, 
and  roofed  either  with  thatch  of  grass  or  rattan-palm  leaves, 
or  covered  with  wood  or  bamboo  "  slates,"  according  to  the 
fashion  of  roofing  in  vogue  in  the  village.  It  is  fairly  well 
lighted,  but  the  light,  as  a  rule,  is  admitted  only  by  the 
latticed  gables,  and  by  long  slits  and  small  windows  a  few 
feet  above  the  level  of  the  floor,  more  suitable,  of  course, 
to  the  squatting  native  than  to  a  European  sitting  on  a  chair. 
Two  doors,  reached  by  strong  bamboo  ladders,  or  well-made 
wooden  stairs,  and  situated  one  at  each  end  of  the  building, 
either  in  the  gables  or  in  the  sides,  afford  ingress  and  egress. 
At  one  end  within  a  small  inclosure  is  a  cooking  place — a 
deep  layer  of  earth  on  which  the  fire  rests. 

The  Balai  is  in  reality  the  town-hall  of  the  Lamponger.  It 
is  the  common  property  of  every  man,  woman,  and  child  in 
the  village.  In  Mahomedan  lands  a  man's  house  is  sacred ; 
for  a  man  rarely  enters  the  dwelling  of  his  neighbour,  and  never 
without  the  head  of  the  house  ;  but  the  Balai  is  the  assembly- 
room — the  meeting  place  for  all.  Its  doors  stand  ever  open. 
All  l)usiness  is  transacted  under  its  roof;  all  hifjaras  (consul- 
tations and  discussions)  are  held  there.  At  whatever  hour 
one  enters,  its  most  characteristic  occupants,    lazy,  sleeping 


IN  SUMATRA.  141 


villagers,  are  to  be  seen  dotted  over  its  floor.  During  the 
day,  the  orang-jaga,  or  watchman,  who  occupies  an  open  guard- 
room during  the  night,  makes  the  Balai  his  watch-tower. 
All  travellers  passing  through  the  village  are  free  to  its  shade 
and  shelter.  The  orang-hedagaiig,  or  itinerant  pedlar,  finds 
at  once  a  free  lodging,  a  market-place  for  his  goods,  and  an 
eager  crowd  to  listen  to  the  news  he  brings.  Here  all  civic 
feasts  and  festive  gatherings  are  held.  Here  they  enjoy  the 
pleasures  of  the  dance  for  unbroken  days  and  nights  together. 
This  being  truthfully  explained,  means  that  the  seated  youths 
behold  with  delighted  eyes  the  peculiar  and  monotonous 
posture  figures,  supposed  to  be  elegant  and  most  bewitching, 
of  the  ornament-bedizened  maidens  performing  two  and  two 
at  a  time  to  the  clanijinii-  and  clamour  of  ffonii;  and  drum,  and 
that  the  maidens  in  their  turn  have  the  privilege  of  gazing 
on  their  future  lords  going  through  the  same  performance. 
Under  its  roof,  their  love  is  consummated  in  the  weddino- 
and  attendant  ceremonies.  Here,  before  a  crowded  audience, 
they  are  invested  with  their  equivalent  knighthoods  and  peer- 
ages ;  and  here,  in  many  villages,  they  are  at  last  laid  out, 
and  pass  from  it  to  the  grave.  Around  the  Balai,  therefore, 
centres,  as  it  were,  the  whole  life  of  a  Lampong  village. 

The  Lampongers  claim  to  be  descended  from  the  jMalays  of 
Menano-kabau  (a  district  in  the  Padano^  re^cion  of  Sumatra's 
West  coast),  where  it  is  believed  the  first  conquerors  of  the 
island  established  their  kingdom,  whence  they  spread  to  the 
northern  central  portion,  and  thence  along  the  west  and  southern 
coasts,  of  what  is  now  the  Lampong  Kesidency,  at  first,  slowly 
by  families  and  small  communities,  which  agglomerated  into 
separate  margas  with  their  chiefs. 

The  dialect  spoken  in  the  Jjampongs  "appears  to  be  an 
original  tongue,  with  one-third  of  its  words  of  unknown  origin."  * 
I  am  doubtful  how  far  this  will  be  borne  out  by  its  closer 
study.  It  contains  a  very  largo  number  of  corrupted  Malay 
and  Sund.niese  words ;  but  the  written  syjnbols  are  pecu- 
liar to  Sumatra.  In  Java,  where  ]Malay  (met  with  in  the 
coast  towns),  Sundanese  (spoken  only  in  the  west  of  Java 
and  supposed  to  be  a  distinct  language),  and  Javanese  are 
the  spoken  languages,  Arabic  is  employed  for  expressing 
*  Stanford's  Conipeudium  of  (Jeugrapliv,  Australasia,  Appendix. 
11 


142  A   NATURALIST'S   WANDERINGS 

in  writing  both  Malay  and  Sundanese,  and  the  beautiful, 
interesting  well-known  Javan  symbols  for  its  own  language. 
The  Lam  pong  characters  have  no  resemblance  to  either  of 
tliem,  but  I\[r.  Keane  holds  that  they  are  based  on  the  Devana- 
gari,  as  he  affirms  the  Javanese  to  be  also.  The  letters  of 
which  a  specimen  is  given  on  the  opposite  page  are  mostly 
either  horizontal  lines,  or  lines  meeting  each  other  at  acute 
angles,  with  marks  and  dots  above  and  below  the  line,  to  form 
nineteen  characters,  representing  the  sounds  ka,  ga,  gna,  pa,  ba, 
ma,  ta,  da,  na,  tya,  dya,  nya,  ya,  a,  la,  ra,  sa,  wa,  cha  (rough). 
jMarks  and  hooks  above  and  below  the  letters  are  used  to 
indicate  the  vowel  sounds  and  the  addition  of  n  and  ng,  and 
a  sign  to  indicate  the  dropping  of  the  final  vocable,  so  as  to 
express  the  consonant,  as  "  Ka  tanda  mat "  ("  dead  sign  ")  in- 
dicates K.  At  first,  with  only  a  native  teacher,  scarcely  half 
of  whose  discourse  I  could  comprehend,  the  acquisition  of  the 
language  seemed  very  difficult;  but,  having  the  key  given,  it 
was  far  easier  to  acquire  than  it  looked. 

The  margas  are  the  old  native  districts  (one  might  almost 
call  them  regencies)  into  which  the  country  was  originally 
divided,  each  owning  its  own  independence.  The  Govern- 
ment, in  parcelling  out  the  country  for  administrative  pur- 
poses, has  retained  as  mucli  as  possible  the  boundaries  of  the 
marga  intact,  as  each  had  often  its  own  peculiar  customs,  to 
which  the  people  adhere  with  hereditary  tenacity.  In  the  old 
days  each  marga,  and  possibly  each  kampong  (village)  had  a 
copy  of  its  oondang-oondang,  or  laws,  written  on  bamboo-stems, 
or  on  lontar  (Borassus)  palm  leaves,  which  were  preserved 
as  heirlooms  from  generation  to  generation,  till  eaten  up  by  a 
small  boring  beetle — which  can  in  a  very  short  time  reduce  the 
stoutest  bamboo  to  powder  if  it  is  not  looked  after — or  till 
destroyed  in  the  fires  by  which  every  viHage  has  been  periodi- 
cally wiped  out,  when  it  would  be  reinscribed  from  the  memory 
of  some  old  villager,  and  again  transmitted.  In  very  rare  cases 
only  would  the  bamboo  record  be  applied  to,  for  in  every  vil- 
lage there  was  always  some  one,  as  now,  who  knew  its  con- 
tents with  perfect  accuracy,  to  whom  it  had  been  taught  when 
a  child  by  his  father,  as  he  in  like  manner  had  been  taught  by 
his ;  so  that  w  hen  a  case  arose  in  which  the  adat  (custom)  was 
in  question,  recourse  would  be  had  to  the  living  repository,  as 


IN  SUMATRA.  143 

the  quickest  means  of  settling  the  point ;  for  their  reading,  like 
their  act  of  inscribing,  was,  even  as  now,  a  painfully  slow  and 
difficult  affair  to  the  most  learned.  Now-a-days  these  interest- 
ing relics  are  very  rare,  and  almost  impossible  to  procure. 

Each  marga,  as  a  rule,  has  in  it  several  villages,  each  with  a 
chief.  Each  village  community  is  a  collection  of  families, 
either  related  or  not  to  each  other  by  the  ties  of  blood — con- 
sisting of  the  original  family  or  nucleus  of  the  village  and 
those  descended  from  it,  and  of  the  companies  of  immigrants 
who  have  come  from  different  places,  and  at  different  times, 
with  their  descendants.  Each  of  these  companies,  or  families, 
was  called  a  siiJcii,  and  each  selected  one  of  their  number  to 
represent  them  in  all  matters  affecting  their  interests.  So 
then  a  village  community  consisted,  and  still  more  or  less 
completely  consists,  of  several  suJcus,  each  uith  its  head,  all 
subject  to  the  village  chief,  who  would,  in  the  first  instance, 
be  the  representative  of  the  first  suku  or  nucleus  of  the  village, 
and  thereafter,  if  that  representative  left  no  heirs,  the  person 
on  whom  the  choice  of  the  sukus  might  fall.  A  trivial  cause 
of  dispute  in  a  suku  would  be  brought  before  the  chief 
of  the  suku,  associated  with  some  of  its  old  men  from  whom 
an  appeal  might  lie  to  the  head  of  the  village  with  one  or 
more  of  the  Kapala  sukus.  A  case  in  wliich  more  than 
one  Siiku  was  concerned  would  come  before  the  village  chief, 
sitting  with  the  uninterested  Kapala  sukus.  An  appeal  from 
this  village  court  might  be  made  to  the  chief  of  the  marga, 
possibly  along  with  the  village  chiefs  of  the  marga,  beyond 
which,  of  course,  it  could  not  in  past  days  go.  'J'his  court 
also  exercised  jurisdicticm  in  cases  of  inter-village  disputes.  A 
marga  was  therefore  a  little  independent  principality,  or  rather 
clan,  whose  boundaries  were  the  limits  claimed  by  the  first 
immigrants  to  the  place ;  and  seems  to  have  been  at  first  ruled 
by  him  among  the  settlers  who  was  most  influential  or  of  the 
closest  blood  relationship  with  the  chiefs  or  princes  of  IMenang- 
kabau  giving  them  the  right  to  the  title  of  Penijiuibang. 

The  highest  I'enyimbang  within  the  boundaries  ruled  over 
the  marga;  then  in  each  village  the  highest  ranked  was  chief  of 
the  village,  and  the  next  after  him  became  chiefs  of  the  village 
sections.  The  Pcnyinibang  need  not  of  necessity  become  chief 
of  this  village  or  marga ;  he  could  delegate  his  authority  to 


144  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

anotlier,  but  still  his  voice,  in  all  matters  where  he  chose  to 
exercise  it,  had  pre-eminence.  The  Penyimbangs  constituted 
a  hereditary  nobility,  which  exercised  great  influence ;  and  if 
I  have  understood  the  narratives  of  those  old  cliiefs  with  whom 
I  have  talked,  they  were  nearly  all  of  equal  rank.  No  one  could 
be  raised  de  novo  to  the  honour  of  a  Penyimbang  without  the 
consent  of  all  the  Penyimbangs  in  his  marga.  When  this  was 
obtained  he  was  called  out,  by  the  Marga  chief,  amid  the  accla- 
mations of  the  people  convened  in  full  assembly  in  the  Balai  of 
the  capital  of  the  marga,  before  whom  the  services  entitling  him 
to  the  honour  and  showing  him  to  be  a  "  fit  and  proper  "  person 
to  be  so  endued  were  proclaimed,  to  take  liis  place  on  the  raised 
benches  occupied  by  the  nobility.  The  new  peer  was  then 
bound  to  kill  in  honour  of  the  occasion,  a  number  of  buffaloes, 
according  to  the  degree  of  his  rank,  sometimes  as  many  as 
ninety,  and  give  a  great  feast,  as  well  as  bestow  a  present 
on  each  of  his  brother  Penyimbangs. 

As  margas  increased  in  number,  so  their  boundaries  became 
eternal  subjects  of  dispute,  referred  as  a  rule  to  the  arbitra- 
ment of  war.  Now,  as  the  Sunda  Strait  alone  separated  the 
south  eastern  extremity  of  Sumatra  from  Bantam  (which,  until 
abolished  by  the  Dutch  Government  in  181 1,  was  a  flourishing 
kingdom  under  powerful  Sultans),  a  rich  trade  in  rice,  pepper, 
and  pottery,  at  length  sprang  up  between  the  Bantamese 
traders  and  the  Lampongers.  Whether  the  former  intro- 
duced the  cultivation  of  pepper  into  the  Lampongs,  or 
found  these  settlers  already  acquainted  with  the  culture, 
is  doubtful ;  but  it  is  certain  that  at  an  early  date  rich  spice 
gardens  flourished  in  southern  Sumatra.  Every  year  the 
Sultan  sent  across  a  fine  prau  laden  with  all  sorts  of  earthen- 
ware, an  art  then  unknown  to  the  Lampongers,  with  a  letter 
full  of  compliments  and  good  wishes,  which  was  publicly  read 
on  a  day  when  all  the  Penyimbangs  had  assembled,  to  which 
they  returned  a  complimentary  reply  with  gifts  of  pepper 
and  elephants'  tusks ;  so  trade  gradually  increased,  and  with 
it  the  power  and  influence  of  the  Sultan,  whose  aid  in  these 
intermargal  disputes,  either  by  mediation  or  more  practi- 
cally, was  often  besought.  Grateful  chiefs  sent  i2i  return 
rich  presents  of  ivory  and  pepper,  with  acknowledgments 
of  his  influence,  till  gradually  the  Sultan's   protection   was 


IN  SUMATBA.  145 


extended  over  the  greater  part  of  the  Lampongs  in  return 
for  a  yearly  tribute,  Special  services  were  acknowledged  by 
the  bestowal  of  titles  and  dignities.  These  honours  and  ranks 
were  hereditary,  and  were  at  first  conferred  directly  by  the 
Sultan ;  but  afterwards  they  could  be  purchased,  with  the 
assent  of  the  other  peers  of  the  marga,  from  a  hereditary 
Eight-holder,  by  such  as  were  of  faultless  '•  name  and  fame." 
A  iMnffTxCit,  or  title,  was  just  as  dear  to  the  heart  of  a  Lam- 
ponger  as  now  to  his  European  brother,  and  assiduously  did 
he  labour  to  hoard  up  the  necessary  sum,  and  cultivate  by 
presents  the  good  will  of  the  Penyimbangs,  in  order  that  he 
might  some  day  have  the  pride  of  occupying  one  of  the  seats 
of  honour  at  marriage  feasts  and  on  gala  days,  almost  the 
only  occasions  on  which  the  happy  possessor  of  a  pa^r/^-a?" 
could  be  distinguished  from  his  fellows. 

The  Order  of  the  Pepadon  was  the  highest  conferred  by  the 
Sultan.  The  Pepadon  was  a  great  wooden  chair,  with  a  high 
back  richly  carved,  and  stood  in  the  Balai.  The  honour 
consisted  in  occupying  this  seat  at  feasts  and  high  occasions 
before  the  assembled  marga,  wdiile  the  Penyimbangs  of  lesser 
rank  occupied  lower  seats  to  right  and  left.  On  grand  days 
the  Pepadon  was  often  overlaid  with  gold  and  silver  plates, 
lent  for  the  occasion  by  the  people  of  the  marga.  On  his 
first  installation  to  the  Order  the  new  noble  was  drawn  on  a 
wooden  car  from  his  house  to  the  Balai,  and  if  he  were  of  old 
family  it  was  shaded  by  a  yellow  or  white  canopy. 

If  within  a  marga  a  person  bo  found  murdered,  and  the 
murderer  cannot  be  discovered,  the  whole  marga  must  pay  to 
the  relatives  a  sum  of  money  according  to  his  rank,  as  an 
expiation.  On  this  account  all  travellers  are  saluted  with, 
"Where  to,  master?  "  and  "Where  from,  master?  ""  Where 
did  you  spend  last  night?  "  that  there  may  be  some  clue  as  to 
his  whereabouts  should  he  go  a-missing;  and  of  the  people 
among  whom  he  was  last  seen  alive,  in  order,  if  possible, 
to  saddle  some  village  with  the  crime. 

The  Order  of  the  Pepadon  gave  the  possessor  and  his 
relatives  the  right,  if  murdered,  to  a  higher  sum  of  blood- 
money  than  any  one  else.  Not  only  this  ;  for  his  daughters 
he  could  demand  a  sum  (djudjur)  from  the  man  claiming  her 
hand  four  times  as  great  as  from  a  man  who  had  no  rank. 


146  A   NATUBALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

The  next  lower  rank  consisted  in  the  privilege  of  sitting 
in  the  Balai  on  state  occasions  against  a  wooden  pillar,  called 
the  Sesaho.  It  entitled  the  relatives  of  its  possessor  to  a  sum 
of  blood-money  less  only  than  could  be  demanded  by  those  of 
members  of  the  Order  of  the  Pepadon,  and  a  like  proportionate 
djudjur  for  his  daughter's  hand.  Should  he  be  afterwards 
elevated  to  the  rank  of  the  Pepadon,  the  Sesako  was  nailed 
to  the  back  of  the  Pepadon. 

The  Lawang  Koree,  or  "  honour-door,"  the  third  rank,  was 
a  gateway  of  carved  wood  or  stone  which  was  erected  near  to 
the  dwelling  of  the  holder. 

On  women  of  ancient  family  and  of  high  rank  certain 
honours  were  also  bestowed.  They  were  entitled  to  be  borne 
to  the  Balai  on  great  occasions  on  a  state  car ;  but  the  right  to 
be  carried  with  the  foot  resting  on  the  body  of  a  man  as  a 
footstool  belonged  to  the  most  high-born  alone.  Women  of 
less  distinguished  birth  could  come  walking  on  variously 
adorned  mats  spread  before  them  by  their  slaves. 

In  a  full  assembly  of  the  marga  on  a  high  occasion,  the 
foremost  places  are  occupied  by  the  Penyimbangs  of  various 
orders.  In  a  line  fronting  the  Penyimbangs  sit  all  the 
Jjudjangs,  or  unmarried  youths,  facing  a  row  of  young 
maidens.  The  sight  is  a  gay  one.  All  are  in  their  best 
attire,  the  general  crowd  in  whatever  garments  please  their 
fancy  most,  but  generally  of  the  gayest  colours  of  coats  and 
headcloths,  and  sarongs  suspended  by  large  silver-  and 
gold-buckled  belts,  with  ivory-  and  gold-handled  krisses 
stuck  in  the  waist ;  the  women — for  those  that  stand  round 
have  all  been  married — more  sombrely,  w^earing  the  matri- 
monial symbol,  the  sulung,  a  necklet  of  massive  gold  or 
silver  rings  strung  immovably,  except  for  a  little  piece  in 
front,  on  a  cylinder  of  the  same  metal,  and  the  thick 
stud-like  earrings,  the  only  ornaments  that  their  severe  laws 
permit  to  those  who  have  known  the  bonds  of  wedlock.  Here 
and  there  among  the  crowd  a  crownless  boat-shaped  hat,  made 
of  cardboard,  and  bound  round  with  a  gold  plate,  indicates  that 
its  wearer  is  a  childless  wife.  The  young  unmarried  men  are 
simply  attired  in  a  sarong  of  a  bright  colour,  supported  by  a 
belt  fastened  by  a  buckle  of  greater  or  less  value  according  to 
his  rank,  with  the  corresponding  number  of  krisses  stuck  iu  it, 


127  SUMATliA.  147 


and  with  a  headcloth  tied  about  his  temples  in  the  fashion  of 
his  district ;  but  from  the  waist  upwards  naked. 

The  centre  of  attraction  is  the  long  line  of  maidenliood, 
glittering  in  silver  and  gold  of  native  workmanship.  The 
hair  of  each  girl,  neatly  arranged  and  odoriferous  from  abun- 
dance of  cocoa-nut  and  cajeput  oil,  is  tied  in  a  knot  behind 
and  transfixed  by  a  high-backed  comb  overlaid  with  erold 
plates ;  her  head  is  crowned  with  a  coronet  {i-i<jgar)  of  gold,  of 
form  and  magnificence  according  to  her  pangkat ;  a  shawl 
worn  sash-wise  hangs  from  the  shoulder  to  the  ground,  while 
from  above  the  middle  hangs  a  rich  sarong,  or  petticoat,  of 
home-grown  and  spun  silk,  interwoven  with  gold  thread,  and 
decorated  with  hundreds  of  small  coins  of  the  Dutch  mint, 
which  jingle  pleasingly  as  she  dances.  Above  this  the  body  is 
girt  with  a  silk  slendang,  half  concealing  the  breasts.  The 
arms,  shoulders,  and  chest  are  bare,  except  for  the  nume- 
rous gold  or  silver  collars  and  necklets  and  bracelets,  of 
patterns  peculiar  to  her  marga,  with  which  she  is  loaded. 
Often  these  collars  are  entirely  composed  of  the  large  dollar 
pieces  of  Spain,  Holland,  and  3Iexico,  and  of  English  half- 
crowns.  Of  the  highest-born  maidens,  the  arms  from  the 
wrist  to  the  elbow  are  almost  concealed  by  the  display  of  pure 
"  barbaric  gold,"  for  they  may  wear  as  many  bracelets  as 
they  choose ;  while  their  sisters  less  fortunate  in  the  matter 
of  blood  and  rank  must  conform  to  the  regulation  number  cor- 
responding to  their  degree.  The  breast  is  overlaid  with 
crescent-shaped  gold  plates,  suspended  in  tiers ;  the  waist  is 
encircled  by  a  belt  of  one  of  the  precious  metals  secured  by  an 
elaborately-carved  buckle  of  the  same  material.  The  ratlier 
bony  fingers  are  encircled  with  many  rings,  and  even  the 
uails  are  lengthened  by  additions  of  silver  into  talon-like 
claws  ;  so  that  altogether  the  Lampong  maiden  presents  a 
dazzling  appearance  in  the  dim  uncertain  light  of  a  lamplit 
Ualai.  The  cost  of  such  a  costume  represents  no  mean  sum  ; 
it  is  not  uncommon  for  a  girl  to  have  as  much  as  £100  worth 
of  ornaments  about  her  person  at  a  festival. 

When  all  is  ready,  the  ever  monotonous  music  commences, 
and  the  ^Master  of  the  Ceremonies,  whose  place  is  between  the 
two  lines,  at  a  signal  from  the  chief  calls — and  his  directions 
must  be  implicitly  obeyed — on  two  of  the  maidens  to  dance. 


148  A    NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

His  office  is  both  a  delicate  and  a  difficult  one.  He  must 
himself  be  of  good  position  in  the  community,  and  be  more 
or  less  a  general  favourite ;  but  especially  must  he  be 
intimately  acquainted  with  the  social  position  and  rank  of 
all  present ;  for  should  he  unwittingly  call  on  two  maidens  or 
two  youths  of  different  ranks  to  dance  together  he  will  have 
committed  a  mistake  which  has  many  a  time  turned  the 
festival  into  a  fight,  for  the  parents  or  the  relatives  of  the 
higher-ranked  of  the  dancers,  feeling  themselves  insulted, 
have  suddenly  revenged  themselves  by  amok — that  mode  of 
retribution  which  is  to  them  the  swiftest  and  most  gratifying  ; 
the  first  victim  being  generally  the  unfortunate  blaster  of 
the  Ceremonies  himself. 

The  daughter  of  a  low  Penyimbang  used  to  have  the  right 
to  have  one  girl  attendant  behind  her,  w  ith  a  young  man  to  hold 
a  white  umbrella  over  her  head ;  but  a  maiden  of  the  highest 
rank  was  entitled  to  as  many  as  six  attendants,  and  to  be  shaded 
by  a  silk  umbrella,  gaily  ornamented  with  flowers  and  gold-leaf, 
which,  when  she  was  not  dancing,  lay  folded  in  front  of  her,  by 
the  side  of  a  cushion  on  which  her  rank  entitled  her  to  place 
her  fans.  The  daughters  of  villagers  without  pangkat  danced 
in  the  best  they  could  afford,  but  unattended  and  unshaded. 

The  high-born  youth  was  distinguished  by  the  number 
and  gorgeousness  of  his  krisses,  and  further  by  the  number 
of  youths  prostrate  on  the  ground  before  him,  on  whom  he 
placed  his  foot  as  a  sign  of  his  authority.  These  customs 
have  now  been  greatly  modified,  as  the  attendants  on  the  high 
born  were  in  former  days  their  slaves  (and  slavery  has  been 
for  many  years  abolished  by  the  Government),  and  where  they 
now  appear  they  are  paid  servants,  or  relatives  or  friends  who 
have  volunteered  to  take  for  the  occasion  the  j)lace  of  the 
slaves  of  former  days. 

White  was  the  sign  of  nobility,  which  alone  those  of  higli 
pangkat  could  use,  all  others  being  obliged  to  wear  cloth  of 
a  dark  colour.  Blue  remains  even  now  when  all  restrictions 
have  been  removed  by  law,  the  commonest  colour  of  garments 
worn  by  the  people  ;  but  even  yet  the  sight  of  white  in  one  of 
low  rank  incites  envy  or  enmity.  The  ^Magistrate  of  one  of 
the  districts  informed  me  of  a  case  he  had  shortly  had  before 
him,  in  which  the  complainant  had  the  white  umbrella  he  was 


IN  SUMATRA.  149 


carrying  snatched  from  him  and  broken  before  his  face.  The 
accused  pleaded,  an  excuse  which  he  thought  sufficient,  that 
his  neighbour  had  no  right  to  an  umbrella  of  that  colour, 
as  he  was  a  man  of  no  pangkat.  Even  in  their  houses,  till 
recent  times,  only  chiefs  had  the  right  to  sleep  on  a  mattress, 
or  have  it  protected  by  curtains,  every  one  else  being  obliged 
to  sleep  on  a  mat  laid  on  the  floor. 

The  performers  called  on  by  the  Master  of  the  Ceremonies 
come  forward  and  seating  themselves  in  the  open  space,  perform 
towards  the  chiefs  and  the  assembled  company  with  graceful 
respect  the  semhah,  a  form  of  obeisance  made  by  placing  the 
hands  together  and  bringing  them  to  the  forehead  at  the  mo- 
ment of  inclining  the  head.  Each  maiden  has  a  fan  in  both 
hands,  which  she  holds  by  fixing  them  before  and  behind  alter- 
nate fingers,  and  the  performance,  which  consists  in  posturing 
the  arms  and  hands,  and  but  little  in  the  movement  of  the 
feet  which  really  scarcely  stir  out  of  the  spot,  can  hardly  be 
denominated  dancing.  The  various  attitudes  assumed  are  few 
and  not  very  elegant,  and,  after  being  repeated  to  all  sides, 
they  are  ended  by  the  danseuse  gradually  sinking  down  to  the 
sitting  position,  semhahing  to  the  company,  and  resuming  her 
seat  among  her  fellows,  when  her  place  is  taken  by  any  two 
youths  whom  the  Ceremony-Master  may  call  on,  who  go  through 
much  the  same  performance  in  a  less  elegant  manner.  Inter- 
vals in  the  dancing  are  filled  up  by  the  singing  of  love  songs 
by  the  young  men,  which  are  responded  to  by  the  maidens, 
often  in  extempore  verses,  which  are  generally  scratched 
with  needles  on  pieces  of  bamboo,  and  passed  to  their  sweet- 
hearts through  the  hands  of  the  blaster  of  the  Ceremonies  to 
be  preserved  by  them  as  valuable  keepsakes.  Such  festivals 
mostly  last  through  a  whole  night ;  but  on  great  occasions 
often  for  several  days  and  nights  together. 

When  the  festival  lasts  several  days  the  forenoons  are  given 
up  to  feasting,  the  early  afternoons  to  sleep  and  talk,  and 
during  the  latter  part  the  youth  engage  in  the  middle  of  the 
village  square  in  a  game  of  ball  called  "  simpak,"  in  which 
they  vie  witli  each  other  before  the  maidens,  as  well  as  the 
general  public — who  congregate  in  the  shade  of  the  eaves  of 
the  surrounding  houses  as  spectators  and  admirers — in  the 
display  of  the  proficiency  and  elegance  of  their  movements. 


150  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


The  game  consists  in  the  young  men,  who  dispose  themselves 
in  circles  of  as  many  as  twenty,  keeping  in  the  air  a  large 
hollow  sphere,  made  of  rattan  cords  neatly  twisted  together, 
by  kicking  it  only  with  the  side  of  the  foot  as  it  descends — 
touching  with  any  other  part  of  the  body  being  out  of  rule. 
In  dealing  the  kick,  the  limb  is  swung  out  with  great  vigour 
almost  perpendicularly,  while  the  body  is  thrown  back  nearly 
to  the  horizontal  position,  and  the  beauty  of  the  play  consists, 
besides  keeping  the  ball  continually  in  the  air  from  player  to 
player,  in  the  elegant  leap  witli  which  the  body  is  brought 
back  to  the  erect  posture  without  the  player  changing  his 
foot-ground  ;  and  the  more  elegant  these  movements — and 
really  very  elegant  they  are^ — the  greater  favour  and  applause 
the  player  wins  among  his  female  spectators. 

On  tiring  of  this,  various  couples  engage  in  a  species  of 
dance — the  relic  of  a  war  dance — full  of  spirited  action,  and  of 
a  character  quite  different  from  that  to  which  the  nights  are 
devoted. 

When  in  the  small  hours  of  the  morning  the  finale  of  sucli 
a  festival  takes  place,  the  maidens  are  escorted  home  by  the 
young  men,  who  flank  their  wards,  each  bearing  a  great  flaming 
torch,  which  now  reflected  in  the  water  of  some  wide  stream 
which  must  be  crossed,  now  blinking  through  the  trees  of  some 
forest-skirted  path  produces  a  most  pleasing  effect  as  the 
various  parties  wend  their  different  ways  from  the  village. 

Their  homegoings  end — in  what  land  do  they  not? — in  the 
old  tale.  He  who  has  long  spent  his  evenings  by  the  rice 
block — a  large  heavy  log  of  wood,  with  a  conical  hole  in  it,  in 
which  the  rice  corns  are  husked  by  being  stamped  by  a  long 
pole — admiring,  as  well  as  assisting,  the  maiden  of  his  choice 
in  her  work,  (which  displays  more  than  any  other  employment 
the  grace  and  beauty  of  the  female  figure,)  is  at  length 
rewarded.  The  sign  of  engagement  is  often  a  ring,  but  more 
generally  the  youth  and  the  maiden  exchange  some  portion 
of  their  garments. 

As  a  rule  the  engagement  is  kept  secret  from  the  parents 
ill  near  the  time  when  the  youth  desires  to  marry.  When 
he  goes  to  the  parents  of  the  girl  his  real  difficulties  begin. 
A  daughter  is  so  much  property,  and  cannot  be  lightly 
allowed  to  leave  her  father's  roof  without  fetching  an  equiva- 


IN  SUMATRA.  151 


lent.  The  Government  has  now  enacted  that  all  marriages 
shall  be  without  let  or  consideration,  between  "  him  who  will 
with  her  who  will,"  but  the  system  of  djudjur  (or  price  to 
be  paid  for  a  wife),  sanctified  by  generations  of  custom,  it 
is  almost  impossible  to  prevent,  as  when  a  fair  sum  is  not 
paid,  the  girl's  father  can  always  raise  insurmountable  diffi- 
culties, so  that,  in  fact,  the  djudjur  is  almost  invariably  paid, 
and  is  in  amount  according  to  the  status  of  the  youth,  and 
of  the  parents  of  the  bride.  When  this  has  been  (sid)  rosa,  of 
course)  satisfactorily  arranged,  the  parents  of  the  youth  and 
of  the  girl  must  appear  before  the  chief  of  the  village  (if  they 
belong  to  the  same  village,  or  to  both  chiefs  if  the  parties 
belong  to  different  villages)  to  give  official  information  that 
their  children  wish  to  marry.  This  is  the  hatrangcm  {trang,  is 
clear)  of  the  affair  ;  it  is,  in  fact,  the  publication  of  the  banns. 
After  this  has  taken  place,  it  is  legal  for  the  parents  to  receive 
a  small  fixed  gift  (marriage  gold,  as  it  is  called),  but  any 
demand  for  a  greater  sum  is  penal. 

The  system  of  djudjur  has  acted,  and  still  acts,  very  detri- 
mentally on  the  population,  for,  as  a  rule,  the  sum  demanded 
by  a  father  for  his  daughter's  hand  is  so  great  that  many 
young  men  cannot  afford  to  marry  ;  and  as  children  born  out  of 
wedlock  are  from  of  old  considered  to  be  a  stigma  on  the  village, 
the  people  have  increased  but  little  in  number.  Of  course  if  a 
youth  should  complain  to  the  magistrate  that  he  cannot  marry 
the  girl  of  his  choice  on  account  of  the  large  sum  demanded 
by  her  father,  the  magistrate  would  at  once  interfere  ;  but  it  is 
very  rare  thtit  any  complaint  is  made,  the  youth  preferring  to 
pay  the  djudjur,  beaten  down  to  the  lowest  figure  possible. 

If,  however,  the  youth  chooses  he  may  marry  the  girl  in  the 
manner  known  as  "ambil  anak  "  (literally,  "taking  a  child"), 
in  which  case  the  father  of  the  girl  receives  the  husband  into 
his  house  as  one  of  his  children,  bound  to  labour  in  her  place, 
for  him  absolutely. 

In  effect,  by  this  form  of  marriage,  the  husband  becomes  the 
slave  of  his  wife  ;  he  is  bjuud  to  do  all  that  she  may  demand, 
and,  should  he  rue  his  bargain  and  obtain  a  divorce,  the 
children  of  the  union  remain  with  her,  and  he  goes  out  as  he 
came  into  the  house — portionless.  It  always  remains  open  to 
him,  however,  should  he  fall  heir  to  any  property,  to  pay  the 


152  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

djucljur  and  remove  his  wife  to  a  home  of  his  own.  If  a  man 
have  a  hirger  family  of  danghters  than  of  sons,  it  is  very 
customary  for  the  eldest  son  to  bring  a  wife  to  his  father's 
house,  but  for  the  rest  of  the  sons  to  go  to  the  houses  of  their 
mothers-in-law,  and  for  the  daughters  either  to  bring  their 
husbands  to  their  mother's  house  also,  in  order  that  her 
parents  may  reap  the  benefit  of  their  labour,  or  to  migi-ate 
to  their  husbands'  homes.  Where  a  man's  only  child  is  a 
daughter,  marriage  is  almost  always  by  "  ambil  anak." 

With  the  richer  members  of  the  community  it  is  a  matter  of 
pride  to  pay  djudjur  for  their  wives.  When  no  agreement 
can  be  come  to  about  the  djudjur  between  the  youth  and  the 
parents  of  the  girl,  the  two  often  elope  together  to  the  man's 
village  (if  they  belong  to  different  villages,  or  to  another 
village  if  they  be  of  the  same  village),  in  which  she  is  placed 
in  the  house  of  his  father,  but,  if  she  is  of  higher  rank  than 
himself,  in  the  house  of  the  head  of  the  village.  The  father  of 
the  girl  pursues  with  an  armed  following,  and,  being  met  at 
the  entrance  of  the  village  by  a  like  force,  a  fight  (nowadays 
a  sham  fight)  takes  place  in  front  of  the  Balai,  in  which  the 
father  of  the  maiden  allows  himself  to  be  overcome,  whereupon 
an  adjournment  is  made  within  the  building,  and  matters 
are  amicably  settled,  the  day  ending  with  football,  dancing, 
cock-fighting,  and  festivities.  Their  marriage  ceremony  fol- 
lows the  Mahomedan  rites. 

From  Tiohmomon  I  continued  my  way  to  Penanggungun. 
I  was  greatly  surprised  to  see,  even  in  the  smallest  villages, 
the  universal  use  of  two  articles  of  western  civilisation — 
petroleum  oil  and  paraffin  matches.  There  was  scarcely  a 
dwelliu":  in   a   villa":3   of  even  eiji-ht  to  ten  houses  in  this 

o  o  o 

out-of-the-way  corner  of  the  world  in  which  this  oil  was 
not  the  illuminating  medium ;  if  there  was  not  in  the 
house  another  article  of  western  origin,  there  was  a  lamp, 
often  of  a  most  elegant  and  costly  pattern,  of  gilt  brass,  and 
complete  with  wheel  and  pulley  apparatus.  I  daily  saw 
packhorses  laden  with  De  Voe's  well-known  boxes  passing 
through  the  villages  to  more  distant  places.  Nearly  every 
native,  too,  produces  from  a  fold  of  his  cotton  kilt,  or  his  head- 
cloth,  when  he  wants  "  fire,"  one  of  the  little  yellow-papered 
chip  boxes,  with  "  Patent  paraffinerade   siikerhets  tiindstikor 


IN  SUMATRA.  153 


utan  svafvel  och  fosfor,"  which  arrive  in  these  parts  from 
Sweden — if  not  also  from  the  "  fabriks  "  of  swindling  China- 
men in  Singapore — by  the  hundred  thousand. 

There  is  scarcely  a  western  article  but  the  Chinamen  have 
introduced  its  counterfeit  here,  sometimes  with  such  wonder- 
ful ingenuity  that,  even  when  anathematising  them,  one  cannot 
help  feeling  a  sort  of  respect  for  their  perseverance  and  assi- 
duity even  in  evil  doing.  This  broad  dissemination  of  tand- 
stickors  has  driven  into  oblivion  the  savage's  picturesque 
friction  block.  He  strikes  his  matcli  on  the  box  and  lights 
his  cigarette  at  the  flame,  guarding  it  from  wind  between  his 
half-closed  hands,  as  if  he  were  a  native  of  the  Isles  of  the 
Blest.  Though  one  is  certainly  pleased  enough  to  have  those 
commodities  ready  to  one's  hand,  yet  it  is  decidedly  disap- 
pointing not  to  be  able  to  outrun  civilisation  ;  one  would  fain 
see  "  some  new  thing,"  some  strange  artifice  or  curious  custom. 
To  the  ethnographical  student,  the  latest  Paris  designs  in 
the  furniture  of  a  Polynesian  or  New  Guinean  hut  must  be 
extremely  interesting  and  edifying  ! 

Penanggungan  was  quite  an  embryo  village  in  the  middle 
of  a  fresh  clearing  in  a  piece  of  very  ancient  forest,  and  conse- 
quently a  rich  botanical  hunting-ground.  In  its  near  vicinity 
grew  one  of  the  grandest  Vrosti<jma  trees  I  have  ever  seen  ; 
its  broad  buttresses  and  sturdy  supporters,  among  which  a 
wanderer  might  almost  lose  himself,  looking  like  the  pillars 
of  some  ancient  Moorish  temple.  It  was  thick  in  fruit, 
and  harboured  legions  of  skipping  squirrels,  great  apes,  and 
troops  of  monkeys,  which,  to  the  eye  surveying  them  from 
below,  looked  like  pigmies  flitting  about  amid  its  branches. 
Immense  flocks  of  the  large  fruit-pigeons,  and  of  the  smaller 
members  of  that  numerous  and  beautiful  family,  crowded  to 
this  rendezvous,  their  wings  keeping  up  a  constant  whirring 
in  the  air  by  their  coming  and  going  ;  scores  of  the  great 
hornbill  {Buceros  galeatm)  with  their  five-feet  expanse  of 
wing,  and  myriads  of  smaller  birds  whose  varied  calls  and 
notes  alouf!  indicated  their  presence,  flocked  from  far  and  near 
to  this  inexhaustible  storehouse  (and  its  produce  could  not 
be  less  than  tens  of  thousands  of  bushels  of  figs),  and  yet  the 
vast  assemblage  but  sparsely  peopled  this  single  magnificent 
specimen  of  the  vegetable  kingdom. 


154:  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

Here  also  I  gathered  a  splendid  orchid  {Galeola  sp.)  grow- 
ing on  damp  rotting  tree-trunks,  climbing  over  the  low  forest, 
singular  in  producing  no  foliage  but  putting  forth  a  stem  pro- 
fusely flowering  at  short  nodes  for  forty  feet  in  length,  with 
blossoms  of  a  rich  yellow  colour.  In  the  depths  of  the  forest 
I  found  the  large  Baffiesia  arnoldi  and  HasseUii,  and  the 
smaller  but  handsomer  Brugmanda  Lowii. 

On  the  giant  Urosti.gma  I  shot  several  specimens  of 
Bucerotidse,  the  white-crested  Hydrocisa  aJhirosiris,  and  the 
great  hornbill  (Buceros  galeatus),  whose  heavy  scarlet  hammer- 
fronted  casque,  which  it  uses  to  beat  with  far-resounding 
thuds  the  branches  of  the  trees,  draws  upon  it  a  severe  perse- 
cution, as  in  Palembang  each  head  commands  a  large  price, 
for  out  of  its  dense  white  ivory-like  consolidated  horn,  are 
manufactured  studs  and  sleeve-links  of  great  beauty.  The 
casque  in  most  species  of  this  family  is  a  cancellated  structure 
permeated  by  blood-vessels  so  teased  out  as  to  give  it  great 
lightness,  that  it  is  difficult  to  understand  why  in  this 
species  it  should  be  so  solid  and  heavy  ;  yet,  notwithstanding, 
no  bird  could  flit  about  more  lightly  in  the  tree-tops,  or 
gather  its  food  more  agilely.  In  a  longitudinal  section  of  the 
head  and  casque  of  this  bird,  the  thick  horny  hammering  por- 
tion, as  well  seen  in  the  figure  opposite,  has  behind  it  a  layer  of 
dense  bone  to  which  osseous  bars  radiate  towards  the  occipital 
condyle,  where  the  head  joins  with  the  neck,  and  pass  above 
and  around  the  brain  cavity,  to  protect  it  in  a  most  beautiful 
way  from  shock.  The  brain  cavity  is  thus  lodged  below  the 
line  of  shock,  and  is  besides  separated  from  the  casque  by 
padding  in  the  shape  of  a  cartilaginous  joint.  To  Professor 
Flower  I  am  indebted  for  directing  my  attention  to  the 
beautiful  section  in  the  Museum  of  the  lloyal  College  of 
Surgeons  sketched  here,  whose  structure  had  indeed  led  him 
to  infer,  before  he  knew  the  fact,  that  the  bird  must  use  its 
head  as  a  hammering  instrument. 

In  a  neighbouring  stream,  flitting  from  stone  to  stone,  I 
obtained  the  lively  Hydrosichla  ignicapillus,  a  bird  in  habit 
and  colour  closely  resembling  the  true  wagtails ;  and  on  its 
banks  the  horned  frogs  {Megalophrijs  nmuta)  were  abundant, 
whose  anvil-like  clinking  "  kang-kang  "  filled  the  air  in  the 
evenings ;  but,  in  simulating  so  closely  the  dead  leaves  among 


7^  SUMATRA. 


155 


which  they  hiy,  it  required  the  closest  search  to  find  them. 
Lying  flat  on  the  ground,  their  sharp  acute  horns  mimicked 
the  points  of  leaves,  from  which  lines  radiated  representing 
crossing  and  overlapping  margins,  while  dark-brown  spots  and 


HEAD    OF    BVCEROS,    AND    SECTION    OF    ITS   CRANIUM. 


markings  distributed  over  their  bodies  could  not  be  told  from 
the  blotches  and  fungoid  growths  of  decaying  vegetation.  In 
coitn  the  male  embraces  tlie  female  round  tlie  lumbar  region. 

Oil    shooting  a  Siamang  in    our  liigli    Vrostigma   preserve, 
my  hunter  found,  on  picking  it  up,  a  young  one  clasped  in 


156  A   NATURALIST'S   WANDERINGS 

its  embrace,  to  all  appearance  dead  also.  Both  of  them  he 
brought  home  slung  on  a  pole.  Cutting  their  thongs,  he  threw 
them  down  on  the  verandah  and  went  off  again.  Being 
very  busy,  I  had  taken  no  notice  of  them  till  a  movement 
caused  me  to  look  up,  when  I  saw  the  young  ape  quietly 
making  tracks  for  the  stairway  ;  but  I  quickly  secured  him, 
despite  his  screams  and  vigorous  attempts  to  bite.  It  had 
been  only  stunned  by  a  pellet  on  the  head,  and  had  no  bones 
broken.  In  a  very  short  time  it  tamed  down  and  became 
a  most  delightful  companion.  Its  expression  of  countenance 
was  most  intelligent,  and  at  times  almost  human  ;  but  in 
captivity  it  often  wore  a  sad  and  dejected  aspect,  which  quite 
disappeared  in  its  excited  moods.  With  what  elegance  and 
gentleness  it  used  to  take  wliat  was  offered  it  with  its  delicate 
taper  fingers,  which,  like  its  head,  are  more  anthropoid  (except 
for  their  hairiness)  than  any  other  ape's  !  It  would  never 
put  its  lips  to  a  vessel  to  drink,  but  invariably  lifted  the  water 
to  its  mouth  by  dipping  in  its  half-closed  hand  and  awkwardly 
licking  the  drops  from  its  knuckles.  The  gentle  and  caressing 
way  in  which  it  would  clasp  me  round  the  neck  with  its  long 
arms,  laying  its  head  on  my  chest,  uttering  a  satisfied  crooning 
sound,  was  most  engaging.  Every  evening  it  used  to  make 
with  me  a  tour  round  the  village  square,  with  its  hand  on 
my  arm,  enjoying  the  walk  apparently  as  much  as  I  did. 
It  was  a  most  curious  and  ludicrous  sight  to  see  it  erect  on  its 
somewhat  bandy  legs,  hurrying  along  in  the  most  frantic  haste, 
as  if  to  keep  its  head  from  outrunning  its  feet,  with  its  long 
free  arm  see-sawing  in  a  most  odd  way  over  his  head  to 
balance  itself. 

That  they  can  leap  the  great  distances  from  tree  to  tree 
ascribed  to  them  is,  I  think,  incorrect ;  for  durins:  the  fellinf-- 
of  the  forest  near  the  village,  when  a  little  colony  of  Siamangs 
got  cut  off  from  the  branches  of  the  nearest  trees  by  some 
thirty  feet  only,  they  scampered  up  and  down  the  tree 
howling  in  the  most  abject  terror  at  every  stroke  of  the  axe, 
yet  without  venturing  to  leap  the  intervening  space,  and 
even  wheu  it  was  falling  they  did  not  attempt  to  save 
themselves  by  springing  to  the  ground,  but  perishetl  in  the 
crash  of  the  tree.  The  Siamang  and  the  Ongka  {Hijalohates 
variegatus),  an  allied  but  smaller  ape,  are  the  most  interesting 


IN  SUMATRA.  157 


of  the  Quadramana  to  be  met  with  in  this  region,  the  Orang- 
utan not  being  found  so  far  in  the  south. 

Continuing  my  journey,  skirting  round  an  elbow  of  3It. 
Tengamus,  I  descended  on  the  viUage  of  Terratas,  looking 
down  on  the  Bay  of  Semangka  with  its  mountainous  shores, 
and  on  the  peaked  summit  of  the  island  of  Tabuang  standing 
out  of  the  motionless  water.  In  one  of  the  little  ravines  I 
gathered  specimens  of  a  singular  climbing  shrub  {La gen  aria) 
with  immense  semi-globular  fruits  over  two  feet  seven  inches 
in  eircimiference.  Though  in  size  so  large  they  are  quite 
light,  their  seeds  being  small  and  winged  with  a  broad 
glancing  membrane,  thinner  than  the  finest  white  tissue  paper, 
which  serves  as  a  float  to  disseminate  them. 

Two  days  later  I  made  the  ascent  of  the  mountain,  which, 
owing  to  its  fissured  and  chasmed  character,  was  tedious 
and  difficult.  Passing  through  a  dense  belt  of  wild  bananas 
and  Zingiberiaceous  plants,  then  a  zone  of  disagreeable  rattan- 
palms,  we  broke  into  the  deep,  dark  virgin  forest,  beneath 
whose  shade  little  or  nothing  was  to  be  found  growing,  save 
here  and  there  an  arum  with  a  curious  serpent-head-like 
spathe,  or  in  bright  scarlet  fruit ;  but  at  3000  feet  I ,  was 
gladdened  by  entering  a  belt  of  Ixora  trees  in  one  mass 
of  scarlet  flowers,  which,  as  the  mountain  rose  abruptlyj 
had  a  fine  effect  viewed  from  above.  In  the  damper  regions 
a  little  higher,  the  tree-trunks  began  to  be  more  densely 
clothed  with  orchids  and  ferns  and  climbers  of  all  kinds; 
and  here  and  there,  high  in  the  angles  of  the  branches, 
scarlet  Azaleas,  which  had  crept  down  the  mountain  out  of 
the  temperate  heights  as  far  as  they  might  dare.  At  5000 
feet  I  gathered  Horsfield's  Dipteris  fern,  which  seems  too 
delicate  to  thrive  well  at  home  though  it  is  a  denizen  of  the 
higher  mountains  of  the  tropics,  accompanied  by  great  fields 
of  a  handsome  species  of  bracken  {Gleichenia  fjJauca).  At 
5400  feet  I  halted  for  the  night  in  a  small  hut  that  I  had  a 
day  or  two  iirovioiisly  had  erected  for  our  accommodation  on 
the  verge  of  the  more  temperate  region  of  the  mountain,  where 
the  trees  became  smaller  and  more  stunted  and  were  loaded 
with  licliens,  mosses  and  feathery  lycopods,  and  which  turned 
out  to  be  the  lowest  limit  of  the  pitcher-plants. 

Few  signs  of  animal  life  were  observed,  except  the  spoor  of 
12 


158  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

the  tapir,  and  high  up  the  wallowing  holes  of  the  rhinoceros, 
and  footprints  of  the  rare  mountain  antelope  [Antilocarpa  suma- 
trana)  ;  the  intermittent  low  booming  note  of  the  large  fruit- 
pigeons  {Carpopliaga  hadia)  answering  each  other  at  roost,  and 
the  chattering  cries  of  flocks  of  Babblers  (GarruJax  palliatus) 
at  play  in  the  distant  tree-tops,  filled  the  woods,  but  they 
never  approached  near  enough  to  afford  a  chance  of  securing 
them  for  specimens. 

The  night  was  A^ery  disagreeable,  for  our  hut  of  branches 
and  leaves  leaked  freely,  and  the  dense  smoke  which  issued 
from  the  wet  wood  fire,  round  which  my  boys  crouched  with 
chattering  teeth,  was  painful  to  eyes  and  throat.  I  have  often 
been  surprised  that  the  native,  who,  in  the  low  grounds,  goes 
about  and  even  sleeps  in  all  weathers  nearly  naked,  when  I 
with  my  European  clothing  have  felt  it  quite  chilly,  almost 
at  once  succumbs  to  the  low  temperature  in  the  mountain 
heights,  and  often  actually  dies  before  he  can  descend.  A 
few  hours  round  a  blazing  fire  after  a  hot  Jorum  of  coffee  re- 
invigorated  them  somewhat,  and  far  into  ti:ie  night  the  woods 
resounded  to  the  weird  monotonous  chant  of  one  of  those 
epics  to  which  the  Lamponger  is  never  tired  of  listening,  and 
which  his  country  is  famed  for,  such  as  the  Herculean  exploits 
of  that  great  hero,  Anak  Dalom,  who,  miraculously  escaping 
from  the  interior  of  a  bamboo,  played  the  part  of  another 
^neas  along  these  shores.  At  length,  when  one  by  one  they 
dropped  off  to  doze,  with  their  chins  on  their  knees,  their 
heads  buried  in  their  sarongs,  the  intense  silence  of  the  forest 
reigned,  which  even  the  moaning  of  the  trees  and  the  shriii 
screaming  of  the  cicads  could  not  disturb. 

Kesuming  our  ascent,  I  found  that  at  5800  feet  the  Dipteris 
horsfieldi  increased  in  abundance,  while  lichens  and  mosses 
padded  every  stone,  tree-trunk,  and  lower  branch  with  a  thick 
springy  cushion  of  moss,  among  which  everywhere  the  elegant 
flagons  of  the  Pitcher- plants  were  embedded  or  swayed  grace- 
fully from  projecting  twigs.  Here  also,  among  the  moss  and 
on  the  fallen  trees,  a  pretty  Cynibidium,  an  epiphytic  orchid 
with  dark-green  crisp  foliage,  carpeted  in  profusion  the  hol- 
lows and  knolls.  The  whole  mountain  above  5800  feet  seemed 
as  if  intentionally  laid  out  in  a  gigantic  rockery,  up  which  the 
path  wound  under  moss-padded  arches,  and  over  boulders  on 


IN  SUMATBA.  159 

which  choice  flowers  had  been  phinted ;  and  as  we  ascended, 
other  species  of  orcliids  appeared,  and  shrnbby  Rhododendrons 
with  bright  scarlet  bells,  {R.  tuhijloram  and  malayanum). 
Nearer  the  top,  the  vegetation  was  mostly  composed  of  lean- 
armed  and  straggling  myrtles  and  shrubs  of  the  heather-bell 
family. 

Crowds  of  blue-bottle  flies,  a  few  bees,  a  couple  of  lepidop- 
tera,  and  a  small  bird,  with  a  PZoef ?/s-like  chirp,  flitting  about 
among  the  tall  reeds,  represented  life  at  7200  feet. 

Before  descending,  I  stood  to  watch  the  gathering  of  the 
clouds,  which  in  the  wet  season  begin  toward  midday  to  en- 
velope the  mountain-crests.  Here  and  there  Avhite  masses,  like 
puffs  of  steam,  would  suddenly  appear  over  the  wooded  lands 
below^,  principally  over  deep  and  naturally  cold  ravines,  till  the 
whole  landscajDC  was  dotted  with  little  flocks  of  cloiuls,  and 
occasionally,  even  while  I  was  looking,  a  white  cloud  would 
suddenly  condense  along  the  margin  of  the  sea,  and,  travelling 
inward  up  the  mountain  side  as  a  dense  fog,  which  finally 
descended  in  heavy  rain  just  as  I  got  back  with  my  collection 
to  the  rest-house  of  the  previous  evening. 

Next  morning  I  descended  to  the  Balai  at  Terratas.  After 
several  days  of  drying  and  packing  up  my  collections,  I  started 
back  for  our  camp  at  Penanggungan,  to  prepare  for  my  return 
to  Telok-betong  on  my  way  to  Batavia. 

The  road  at  this  season,  now  well  on  in  the  wet  monsoon, 
though  of  no  great  length,  was  excessively  bad,  so  that  tlie 
transport  of  my  bulky  herbarium  in  a  dry  condition  became  an 
anxious  and  difficult  matter.  Things  went  well  till  we  reached 
the  steep  climb  to  the  top  of  the  pass  at  2000  feet — eight  hours 
of  hard  trudging,  plunging  and  scrambling,  with  feet,  legs, 
and  bodies  bleeding  from  thousands  of  leeches.  From  the  top 
of  the  pass  the  road  lay  along  a  nearly  level  plateau  for  many 
miles,  through,  virgin  forest.  Hero  the  rain  came  down  in 
cold,  heavy  lines,  flooded  the  path  and  enlivened  the  army  of 
leeches,  which  wriggled  and  stretched  their  green,  bloodthirsty 
necks  from  every  leaf  and  blade  of  grass.  The  journey  at 
last  became  a  dogged,  cheerless  trudge ;  I  was  past  caring 
for  any  change  of  weather ;  things  were  as  bad  as  they  could 
be.  Not  a  singh;  word  was  uttered,  except  the  intermittent 
"  AU'-il-allahs  " — whose  very  woe-begoneness  made  me  smile  in 


160  A   NATUBALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


spite  of  the  general  misery  of  things  — as  the  coolies  changed 
their  carrying-poles  from  shovilder  to  shoulder. 

At  nightfall  we  reached  a  small  cluster  of  huts,  where  we 
camped  thankfully  for  the  night :  and  next  day  before  noon 
the  terrible  burden  was  deposited  with  thankfulness  within 
my  old  camp,  where  I  found  my  Siamang  in  a  sad  state, 
suffering  from  a  suppurating  finger  and  tooth.  On  lancing 
the  one,  and  extracting  the  other,  the  poor  creature  seemed 
greatly  relieved,  and  I  was  delighted  to  watch  it  recover 
without  having  contracted  any  antipathy,  but  rather  the 
reverse,  for  me.  It  accompanied  me  to  Telok-betong,  occu- 
pying with  great  composure  during  the  long  journey  a  seat  on 
the  top  of  one  of  my  large  packages,  sheltering  its  head,  to 
the  amusement  of  all  whom  we  met,  under  a  Cliinese  umbrella 
which  I  had  bought  for  it,  and  for  which,  after  every  halt,  it 
held  out  its  hand  in  the  most  knowing  way,  screaming  lustily 
if  the  porters  dared  to  move  on  before  it  had  comfortably 
arranged  itself. 

I  took  it  with  me  to  Batavia,  where  I  gave  it  to  a  friend  to 
keep  till  a  good  opportunity  should  occur  of  sending  it  to 
London.  It  managed,  however,  to  escape,  and  unfortunately 
took  to  the  evil  practice  of  hiding  in  the  tops  of  the  cocoa-nut 
trees,  and  dropping  down — in  the  most  playful  way,  I  have 
not  a  doubt — its  fruits  on  the  passers  by,  till  some  irate  half- 
caste,  who  had  narrowly  escaped  a  broken  head,  unworthily 
put  an  end  to  a  most  charming  existence,  to  my  deep  regret. 


IN  TEE  EASTERN  ARCHIPELAGO.  161 


CHAPTER  III. 

SOJOUKN   IN   THE   TALEMBANG   RESIDENCY. 

From  Biitavia  to  Anjer— Eeturn  to  Telok-betong — Proceed  to  Bcneawanj; — 
Leave  this  for  tlie  Blalau  region — Camp  at  Sanglii — Camp  in  the 
forest — Phosphorescent  display — Cam]i  again  in  forest — Reach  Bumi- 
padang — Pass  on  to  Batu-brali — Description  of  the  village — Move  on  to 
Kenali — Description  of  the  village — Proceed  to  Hoodjoong — Description  of 
the  village — Its  tobacco  industry — Its  rice-fields — Planting  and  reaping — 
Superstitions — Goitre — Fauna  and  flora  of  the  Besagi  volcano — Birds 
and  insects  of  the  neighbourhood. 

Having  despatched  my  collections  to  England,  in  the  middle 
of  December,  I  turned  my  steps  once  more  to  Sumatra,  to 
investigate  the  Highlands  of  the  Bencoolen  and  Palembang 
Residencies.  Just  then,  because  of  a  break  in  the  cable 
between  Anjer  and  Telok-betong,  a  Government  steamer  was 
plying  to  keep  up  communication  between  the  two  stations, 
which  the  autliorities  kindly  allowed  me  to  make  use  of,  if  I 
should  choose  to  proceed  by  that  way.  Accordingly,  a  day's 
ride  in  a  Kaliar  brought  me  to  Anjer,  where  I  renewed  my 
acquaintance  with  the  beautiful  view  obtained  from  the 
verandah  of  the  little  that  ivas  there.  Alas  !  that  I  should 
have  to  write  ivas  :  for  the  cruel  Krakatoa  wave  of  dawn  of  the 
23rd  August,  1883,  washed  away  the  village,  and  with  it  the 
little  inn  and  the  kind  Dutch  landlady  and  her  whole  family. 
Having  crossed  to  Telok-betong,  I  proceeded  after  a  short 
delay  across  country  to  Bcneawang  at  the  top  of  the  Semangka 
Bay.  As  I  was  making  for  the  slopes  of  the  Besagi  volcano, 
the  easiest  route  would  have  been  to  take  steamer  to  Kroe,  on 
the  west  coast,  and  thence  by  road  eastwards;  but  I  was 
desirous  of  seeing  the  scenery  and  the  vegetation  along  the 
valley  of  the  Semangka  river,  which,  running  south  through 
the  Sawali  IMountains,  falls  into  the  sea  at  the  top  of  its  own 
bay.  Although  it  was  reported  to  be  a  very  rarely  followed 
route,  I  decided  to  attempt  the  journey  ;  but  it  proved  a  more 


162  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDEBINGS 

difficult  one  than  I  had  anticipated.  I  could  find  nobody  to 
accompany  me  \vho  had  ever  traversed  the  road  before,  or 
who  could  give  me  the  least  information  as  to  the  distance 
between  their  own  last  village  and  Batu-brah,  the  nearest  in 
the  Kroe  district.  The  road  at  its  commencement  lay  along 
the  triangular  plain  occupying  the  cleft  where  the  Barisan 
Mountains  branch  to  form  the  eastern  and  western  boundaries 
of  the  bay.  Beaching  in  the  afternoon  the  village  of  Sangi, 
at  the  confluence  of  the  Samung  with  the  Semangka,  I  en- 
camped for  the  night  in  its  Balai. 

Next  morning,  crossing  the  Samung  in  small  prahus,  accom- 
panied by  twenty-five  porters  I  proceeded  along  tlie  eastern 
bank  of  the  Semangka.  As  its  stream,  where  at  length  the 
path  crossed  to  the  opposite  side,  was  running  with  a  very  swift 
current  and  was  nearly  six  feet  deep,  a  difficult  obstacle  was 
presented  to  our  progress.  An  hour  was  lost  in  building  a  raft, 
and  a  second  in  transporting  the  baggage.  As  the  last  pack- 
ages, luckily  for  us,  were  being  brought  over  rain  began  to  fall, 
and  within  an  hour  of  its  commencement  it  would  have  been 
impossible  to  have  crossed.  The  river  runs  between  hills 
which  for  fifty  miles  rise  very  abruptly  from  its  banks,  and  aug- 
mented by  contributory  streams  rushing  down  steep,  boulder- 
studded  slopes,  it  swells  with  great  suddenness.  Over  these 
violent  side-torrents  every  bundle  had  to  be  transported  by 
many  carriers,  each  holding  it  by  one  hand,  and  steadying 
himself  by  grasping  his  neighbour  with  the  other.  In  this 
operation  several  narrow  escapes  occurred ;  for,  once  losing 
foothold,  no  human  aid  could  have  prevented  one  from  being 
swept  into  the  main  stream,  boiling  and  roaring  past  in  some 
places  150  feet  below  us,  and  often  thirty  yards  in  breadth. 

The  track  was  of  the  worst  character  possible,  being  ob- 
structed by  fallen  trees  and  huge  blocks  of  stone,  and  in  many 
places  obliterated  by  landslips,  and  often,  where  the  distance 
between  the  trees  was  not  sufficiently  wide  to  admit  between 
them  the  larger  packages,  a  halt  had  to  be  made  for  the 
obstructing  stems  to  be  'felled.  Our  intended  halt  for  the 
night  was  a  forest  hut ;  but  none  of  my  convoy  knew  where  or 
how  far  distant  it  was,  if  it  existed  at  all.  As  the  day  wore  on 
I  became  very  anxious,  for  tigers  .abounded,  and  we  had  been 
crossing  and  following  the  fresh  tracks  of  a  herd  of  elephants 


7^   THE  EASTERN  ARCBJPELAOO.  163 

all  day.  As  it  was  Christmas  time,  and  we  were  near  the  fifth 
parallel  of  south  latitude,  darkness  was  due  shortly  after  six 
o'clock. 

At  half-past  five  I  desired  to  encamp  for  the  night,  hut 
the  ground  was  so  wet  and  the  leeches  so  numerous  that  the 
carriers  begged  me  to  keep  on.  The  more  heavily-laden 
porters  had  fallen  gradually  behind  out  of  call,  and  those  near 
me  had  become  very  rebellious  under  the  distressing  condition 
of  things.  Suddenly,  even  though  expecting  it,  darkness  fell 
on  us,  so  dense  that  I  could  not  see  even  the  outline  of  the 
porter  immediately  in  front  of  me.  Buoyed  up,  however,  by 
the  hope  that  after  twelve  hours'  march  the  hut  must  surely 
be  near,  we  plodded  on,  till  compelled  by  the  ruggedness  of 
the  road  to  halt,  with  the  intention  of  making  a  torch  to  Yi^ht 
the  rest  of  our  way. 

The  only  dry  wood  Avithin  reach  was  the  interior  of  the 
bamboo,  on  which  the  baggage  was  slung.  One  of  these  was 
hastily  undone  and  cut  up,  but  no  one  had  a  dry  match  ! 
I\ry  own  stock  was  with  the  part  of  the  baggage  in  the  rear. 
]\[y  servant,  however,  had  a  flint  and  some  tinder,  ^ith  which, 
after  a  great  struggle,  he  managed  to  light  a  cigarette.  The 
only  thing  possible  now  was  to  try  to  make  the  cigarette 
ignite  the  dry  scrapings  from  the  interior  of  the  bamboo.  At 
length  they  caught ;  and  hope  brightened  with  the  rising 
smoke ;  but  a  big  raindrop  drowned  them  both.  For  nearly 
an  hour  wo  laboured  in  vain  to  "  make  "  fire,  and  the  idea  of 
lighting  a  torch  or  of  proceeding  further  had  to  be  abandoned. 

Tlie  porters  had  thrown  themselves  on  halting  on  the  wet 
ground,  and  were  fast  asleep.  All  of  us  were  drenched,  but 
with  the  part  of  the  baggage  by  me  was,  luckily,  my  water- 
proof sheet,  containing  a  change  of  clothes  and  my  Ulster-coat. 
After  several  attempts  to  adjust  the  projjer  garments  to  the 
respective  portions  of  the  body  for  which  they  were  made,  and 
throwing  the  waterproof  sheet  over  my  head,  I  sat  down  on  a 
box  to  bravci  till  morning  the  rain  and  the  beasts  of  the  forest, 
my  hands  tlirust  deep  into  my  Ulster  pockets.  To  my  delight, 
my  fingers  found  a  piece  of  linen  cloth  bone  dry.  Starting  up, 
r  roused  the  man  with  the  flint  and  rasp.  We  hammered  away 
industriously  for  a  weary  length  of  time;  at  last  we  were 
rewarded — the  tinder  liad  caught.     It  is  i)npossible  to  relate 


164  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

in  words  how  anxiously  I  nursed  that  fledgling  fire  ;  how 
tenderly  I  held  it  in  the  hollow  of  my  hands  while  my  "  boy  " 
fanned  it  gently  ;  when  it  had  grown  a  little,  how  we  reared  it 
in  a  hat  before  transplanting  it  to  the  ground  where  it  almost 
expired  from  its  cold  touch,  but  the  immense  native  umbrella- 
like hat  shielded  it  till  it  was  able  to  take  care  of  itself. 
All  hands  were  then  roused  to  gather  wood,  and  we  had  at 
length  the  satisfaction  of  feeling  that  the  tigers  would  give  us 
a  wide  berth,  and  no  elephant,  unless  a  rogue,  would  trample 
us  down.  Except  a  handful  of  rice  at  the  ford,  neither  myself 
nor  my  men  had  tasted  food  since  dawn,  and,  possessing  a  fire, 
we  were  hopeful  that  we  might  cook  also ;  but,  of  course, 
the  eatables  were  in  the  other  part  of  the  baggage !  ^.rhere 
was  nothing,  therefore,  to  be  done  but  to  sit  down  with  what 
patience  each  could  command  and  wait  for  morning. 

If  things  were  the  opposite  of  comfortable  or  bright  for  my 
companions,  I  myself  felt  not  a  little  compensated  by  the 
singular  appearance  of  the  forest,  which  was  everywhere  phos- 
phorescent. The  stem  of  every  tree  blinked  with  a  pale 
greenish-white  light,  which  undulated  also  across  the  surface 
of  the  ground  like  moonlight  coming  and  going  behind  the 
clouds — from  a  minute  threadlike  fungus  invisible  in  the  day- 
time to  the  unassisted  eye ;  and  here  and  there  thick  dumpy 
mushrooms  displayed  a  sharp  clear  dome .  of  light,  whose 
intensity  never  varied  or  changed  till  the  break  of  day ;  long 
phosphorescent  caterpillars  and  centipedes  crawled  out  of 
every  corner,  leaving  a  trail  of  light  behind  them,  while  fire- 
flies darted  about  above  like  a  lower  firmament.  Trying  to 
conceive  what  were  the  respective  benefits,  conferred  by  this 
wonderful  luminosity  on  these  so  Avidely  separated  species 
of  living  things,  I  dozed  off  to  the  lullaby  of  the  weird  forest 
moan,  the  clanging  "  kang-kang  "  of  the  horned  frogs,  and 
the  not  unmelodious  wail  of  some  night  bird. 

Break  of  the  next  day  showed  us  in  what  a  miserable  spot 
we  had  encamped — on  the  edge  of  a  rocky  cliff,  under  the 
drip  of  the  trees,  not  below  their  shade.  We  gathered  together 
the  scattered  articles  of  baggage,  which  had  been  deposited 
anywhere  and  everywhere.  Near  me,  hanging  by  its  feet 
to  a  carrying-pole  dead,  drowned  by  the  rain,  I  found  the 
fowl    for    which    I   groped    about,   listening   for    its    cackle 


m   THE  EASTERN  ARCHIPELAGO.  165 

the  evening  before.  Resuming  our  journey  faint  and  in 
low  spirits,  we  reached  the  dammar-gatherer's  hut  within 
an  hour's  walk.  The  dead  fowl,  hastily  boiled  with  a  little 
rice  which  had  soured  in  the  rain,  was  partaken  of  without 
complaint.  The  nearest  baggage  came  in  some  two  hours 
after  us,  the  porters  having  camped  without  fire  or  shelter 
not  far  from  myself,  but  the  heavier  part  did  not  arrive 
till  late  in  the  afternoon,  and  not  until  I  had  sent  out  a 
relief  convoy.  AVhen  it  arrived  tlie  men  were  too  tired  to 
proceed  further  that  day,  so  we  spent  the  night  where  we  were. 
At  sunset  we  feasted  luxuriously,  we  thought,  on  the  solitary 
fowl  belonging  to  the  owner  of  the  hut,  carefully  reserving  a 
limb  for  next  day's  breakfast. 

The  remembrance  of  our  dismal  surroundings  on  that 
evening  haunts  me  still — a  miserable  hovel  gauntly  raised 
like  a  railway  signal-box  on  high  posts,  in  a  clearing  in  the 
heart  of  the  forest,  amid  the  wild  and  melancholy  confusion  of 
felled  trees,  and  with  our  view  shut  in  by  grey  fleecy  rain- 
clouds  hanging  in  banks  on  the  hills  and  low  down  on  the 
tree-tops.  The  screaming  of  the  cicads  and  the  "koo-ow"  of 
the  Argus  pheasants  seemed  more  mournful  than  usual;  there 
was  nothing  lively  anywhere  to  relieve  the  gloom.  In  the 
little  space  which  they  had  respectfully  railed  oif  for  me  I 
retired  early  to  rest,  and  slept  comfortably,  notwithstanding  the 
smoke  from  a  wood  fire  and  a  spluttering  dammar  lamp,  the 
steam  from  drying  clothes  and  the  aroma  that  filled  the  cabin, 
into  which  twenty-eight  of  us  had  managed  to  squeeze. 

Next  day  the  grey  morning  had  hardly  appeared  before  we 
were  again  on  the  march,  striding  along  as  fast  as  the  deep 
tracks  made  by  a  bevy  of  elephants  which  had  traversed  the 
road  the  night  before,  permitted  us.  Mr.  Wallace,  in  his 
'  Malay  Archipelago,'  says  "of  the  great  Mammalia  of  Sumatra, 
the  elephant  and  the  rhinoceros,  the  former  is  much  more 
scarce  than  it  was  a  few  years  ago,  and  seems  to  retire  rapidly 
before  the  spread  of  civilisation.  About  Lobo  Raman  [a 
district  more  to  the  north-east  in  the  Palembang  Residency] 
tusks  and  bones  are  occasionally  found,  but  the  living  animal 
is  now  never  seen."  In  the  district  I  was  traversing  the  opposite 
seemed  to  hold.  AVithin  twenty  miles  of  Telok-l)etong  I  have 
crossed    a   wide    area   over    which   elephants   had  committed 


166  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

depredations  but  a  few  hours  before  my  coming.  The  village 
people  in  these  districts  complained  of  the  constant  ravages 
done  by  them  in  their  fields  and  pepper  gardens,  while  the 
forest  everywhere  abounded  with  their  tracks.  Of  the  rhino- 
ceros, on  the  other  hand,  I  saw  traces  only  a  few  times. 

Some  miles  on  in  the  forest  we  came  upon  a  large  stone  by 
the  side  of  the  path,  sujjposed  to  possess  some  influence  over 
things  terrestrial,  for,  as  each  of  the  porters  passed  it,  he 
plucked  a  handful  of  leaves  and,  placing  them  on  the  stone, 
prayed  for  a  dry  day  and  good  luck.*  Whether  it  was  through 
the  influence  of  the  stone  or  not  we  got  a  dry  day,  and  I 
only  wished  that  we  had  met  with  it  somewhat  sooner.  All 
tliat  day  we  pushed  on  by  the  side  of  the  Semangka,  which 
glided  past  us  deep  and  noiselessly  through  a  level  plateau, 
crossing  more  than  once  from  the  one  side  to  the  other  by 
some  giant  tree  that  had  fallen  from  bank  to  bank,  through 
dense  forest  in  a  sombre  winding  lane,  beyond  which  we 
could  see  nothing  but  blinks  of  the  sky,  except  where  now 
and  then  it  opened  out  on  pretty  sandy  beaches  which  swarmed 
with  species  of  metallic  tiger-beetles  and  sand-bees,  and  where 
Sulphur  (Terias)  and  Swallow-tailed  butterflies  {Charaxes  and 
Appias),  in  gyrating  flocks  played  on  the  damp  ground  by  the 
water's  edge. 

Towards  evening,  emerging  from  the  forest,  our  eyes  were 
delighted  by  the  sight  of  a  small  cluster  of  houses,  the  village 
of  Bumi-padang,  '•'  the  field  of  the  world,"  lying  a  mile  off,  in 
a  large  open  alluvial  amphitheatre.  But,  the  path  suddenly 
giving  out,  presently  we  found  ourselves  floundering  to  the 
thighs  at  every  step  in  a  deep  morass  swarming  with  enormous 
leeches,  out  of  which  we  could  not  extricate  ourselves,  as  it 
seemed  to  stretch  in  every  direction  except  behind  us.  On 
observing  us  the  head  of  the  marga  and  his  chieflings,  with 
the  usual  crowd  following,  came  out  to  welcome  and  attend  us 
back  to  the  village.  They  came  to  the  edge  of  the  bog  and 
sat  down  to  await  us ;  and  doubtless  the  sight  of  our  scattered 
cavalcade  floundering  in  the  slough  afforded  them  not  a  little 
amusement — it  was  ludicrous  enough  to  ourselves. 

Here  I  dismissed  the  porters  brought  from  the  coast,  and 
with  a  new  retinue  pressed  forward  with  the  break  of  day. 
*  See  below  in  the  closing  Chapter  of  this  book. 


IN   THE  EASTERN  ARCHIPELAGO.  167 

The  road  towards  the  high  plateau  of  my  destination  rose  at  a 
steep  incline,  and  with  the  rain  that  had  recently  fallen  was 
horribly  slippery;  but  the  worst  road  has  always  something  to 
brighten  it,  for  where  it  approached  or  rose  above  2000  feet  I 
was  gratified  by  finding  broad  fields  of  brightly  coloured 
purple,  yellow  and  white  balsams,  and  close  to  the  edge  of  the 
path  many  low  herbaceous  C>jrtandrepe,  a  family  with  chaste 
foliage  and  flowers ;  tall  terrestrial  orchids  of  numerous 
sorts,  and  many  species  of  ferns.  At  dark  we  entered  the 
village  of  Batu-brah,  and  I  found  ready  for  me,  as  the  news  of 
my  coming  had  preceded  me,  a  royal — compared  with  my  late 
experiences — sleeping  apartment  in  the  Balai,  with  a  table 
groaning  under  a  load  of  fruits. 

In  the  morning  I  was  agreeably  surprised  by  finding  myself 
in  a  village  of  a  character  quite  different  from  any  that  I  had 
yet  visited  in  Sumatra.  The  houses  were  high,  large,  and 
substantially  built  of  planks  raised  for  five  or  six  feet  on  im- 
mense pillars  formed  of  the  largest  trees  of  the  forest,  with 
pyramidal  roofs,  surrounded  by  an  elegant  ramshorn-like 
ornament  universally  used  in  the  district,  cut  out  of  pumice 
blocks  or  of  tree-fern  roots,  with  a  piece  of  mirror  or  a  bright 
stone  let  into  it  to  glitter  in  the  sun.  I  did  not  camp  here, 
but  continued  to  Kenali,  the  capital  of  the  marga,  a  large  and 
very  old  village  some  miles  eastward.  Both  sides  of  the  road 
were  fully  cultivated  with  coffee,  rice,  but  principally  tobacco, 
for  which  this  region  of  Sumatra  is  famed.  Indian  corn  is 
also  grown  in  considerable  quantity,  along  with  European  and 
sweet  potatoes  and  cabbages  of  excellent  quality. 

On  our  way  we  crossed  a  small  tributary  of  the  Semangka, 
which,  at  a  little  distance  below  the  ford,  narrowing  from  a 
river  of  thirty  yards  to  one  of  a  yard  or  a  yard  and  a-half 
wide,  dashed  itself  into  a  frothy  torrent  down  a  narrow  rocky 
gorge  in  a  series  of  falls  for  about  100  feet  into  the  main  river. 
The  falls  reminded  me  of  those  of  the  Clyde  at  Stonebyres ; 
they  are  more  picturesque,  but  less  imposing  from  the  diffi- 
culty of  viewing  them  from  below  where  the  cascade  plunges 
into  the  main  river.  The  road  from  Batu-brah  to  Kenali  runs 
along  a  high  })lateau  of  about  oOOO  feet  above  the  sea,  extend- 
ing between  the  Barisan  range  and  the  volcanoes  of  Bosagi 
and  Sekindjau,  and  is  composed  of  mingled  clay  and  a  sandy 


168  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERTNGS 

pumice-stone  tufa  Avhicb,  mixed  with  the  black  humus  from 
the  forests  of  centuries,  has  given  its  great  fertility  to  the 
soil  of  this  region. 

The  village,  situated  on  a  high  bluif  looking  down  on  the 
river,  is  one  of  the  oldest  in  the  district,  and  is  certainly  one 
of  the  finest,  cleanest,  and  most  elegantly  arranged  that  I  had 
visited.  One  of  its  most  noticeable  features  Avas  its  decora- 
tive art.  The  massive  pillars,  as  well  as  the  super-imposed 
beams  and  framework  of  the  dwellings,  were  entirely  covered 
with  rich,  intricate,  and  really  beautiful  carvings  in  au 
extremely  hard  black  wood,  which,  after  one  hundred  and  fifty 
years  by  their  data,  appeared  jDcrfectly  fresh  and  soimd.  The 
supporting  beams,  which  rested  on  the  pillars,  projected  some 
feet  beyond  the  corners,  and  were  ornamented  with  carved 
terminals,  somewhat  like  the  figure-head  of  a  ship.  A  broad 
stairway  of  wood,  sometimes  with  rails  elaborately  carved, 
led  up  to  the  doors.  The  windows  were  constructed  of  solid 
blocks  of  wood  cut  into  oval  or  straight  apertures,  which 
could  be  closed  by  a  correspondingly  cut  and  rotating  piece  of 
wood  in  the  inside.  The  divisions  between  the  apertures  were 
ornamented  on  the  outside  with  different  colours  or  inlaid 
with  elegant  designs  in  mother-of-pearl.  The  sides  of  most  of 
the  houses  were  made  of  panels  of  wood  let  into  a  grooved 
framework  and  accurately  fitted,  with  the  aid  of  very  few  tools, 
and  often  without  a  single  nail.  The  Balai,  always  the  best 
looked-after  building  in  a  village,  was  covered  everywhere 
with  rich  carvings. 

Finding  to  my  disappointment  that  Kenali  was  too  far  from 
the  Besagi  Mountain  where  I  wished  specially  to  collect  for 
a  time,  to  suit  as  my  headquarters,  I  was  reluctantly  compelled 
to  remove  to  another  village  nearer  its  foot,  some  nine  or  ten 
miles  further  on. 

Descending  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet  from  the  village,  we 
reached  the  level  of  the  river,  and  proceeded  along  its  bank 
on  a  narrow  alluvial  flat  for  several  miles  by  the  edge  of  rice- 
fields,  beautifully  cultivated  in  quadrangular  plots  rising  in 
gentle  terraces,  from  which  the  irrigating  water  of  the  higher 
beds  was  conveyed  by  a  neat  contrivance  of  bamboo  pipes 
passing  under  the  dividing  dykes  and  bent  upwards  to  dis- 
charge in  the  lower  terraces  as  low  fountains,  which  had  a 


IN  THE  EASTERN  ABCHIPELAGO.  169 

pretty  effect  in  eacli  of  these  miniature  green-walled  ponds, 
whose  surface,  save  where  tlie  fountains  played  and  for  the 
silent  circles  of  each  outflow-vortex,  was  unbroken  by  a  single 
ripple.  As  the  terraces  rose  but  little  above  each  other,  the 
blue  sky  was  reflected  as  in  a  mirror  along  the  whole  valley, 
while  the  bright  green  of  the  young  corn  peeping  up  above  the 
surface,  by  giving  a  green  colour  to  the  mirror  without  in  the 
least  breaking  to  the  eye  the  placid  surface  of  the  water,  or 
interfering  with  perfect  reflection  of  the  ever-changing  face  of 
the  sky,  produced  a  beautiful  effect  impossible  to  describe  in 
words.  Here  and  there,  adding  life  to  the  scene,  in  the  midst 
of  these  fields  were  smoking  cottages  embowered  in  groves  of 
Eriodendroii  and  Acacia  trees. 

Fording  the  river,  the  road  took  us,  after  a  steep  ascent,  for 
several  miles  along  almost  a  knife-ridge  under  a  grand  old 
avenue  of  virgin  forest,  at  whose  termination  I  half  expected 
to  find  a  stately  castle  or  an  ancient  ruin.  As  we  approached 
the  village  the  forest  became  less  dense,  and  we  passed  between 
a  line  of  tall  red-leaved  Hanjuangs  (Calodracon  Jacqiiinii), 
a  shrub  sacred  to  their  graveyards.  Under  this  avenue  of 
mourning,  just  outside  the  village  gate,  was  laid  out  that  one 
institution,  at  all  events,  common  to  the  most  exalted  civilisa- 
tion and  the  most  debased  barbarism — the  Home  of  the  dead. 
Each  little  mound,  often  surmounted  by  circular  ornamented 
pillars  of  wood  diverging  from  each  other  at  opposite  ends  of 
the  grave  within  a  fenced  and  neatly  tended  inclosure,  was 
planted  with  Crotons  and  beautiful-leaved  shrubs. 

The  village  itself  surprised  me  not  a  little.  It  might  have 
been  a  feudal  castle.  As  its  name,  Hoodjoong  or  '*  the  village 
on  the  verge,"  implies,  it  was  situated  at  the  extremity  of 
the  long  narrow  ridge  along  which  I  had  come,  and  was  in- 
accessible, owing  to  precipitous  slopes  dipping  down  into  the 
deep  valley  on  all  sides  except  on  the  one  we  had  approached 
it  by,  and  there  the  road,  rising  in  a  short  steep  incline,  passed 
into  the  village  under  a  narrow  gateway  cut  out  of  the  soft 
tufa  which  hid  the  village  till  it  was  passed.  All  that  was 
wanted  to  complete  the  picture  was  a  battlemented  tower  or 
two  over  it,  and  the  chains  of  a  drawbridge  and  portcullis. 
The  village  looked  down  into  a  deep  alluvial  valley  laid  out 
in  rice-plots  along  the  banks  of  a  stream  whose  double  sources 


170  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

could  be  seen  as  a  couple  of  waterfalls,  like  long  white  streaks 
high  up  in  the  face  of  the  Besagi,  which  formed  the  back- 
ground of  the  view. 

The  villagers  employed  themselves  chiefly  in  the  cultivation 
of  tobacco,  sold  under  the  name  of  Ranau  tobacco,  which, 
though  not  the  true  article,  is  little  inferior  to  what  is  grown 
on  the  borders  of  the  lake  of  that  name.  Great  attention  was 
given  also  to  the  cultivation  of  rice,  which  they  grew  as  in 
Java,  on  the  wet  system,  in  plot-divided  terraces.  In  Java 
the  plots  are  allowed  to  run  dry  after  the  fields  are  harvested ; 
but  here  not  so,  as  they  were  kept  carefully  stocked  with  small 
fishes,  which  afforded  to  their  owners  a  large  food  supply,  while 
the  mollusks,  which  infest  the  sides  and  bottom  of  these  tanks, 
are  abundantly  eaten  by  the  natives,  who  obtain  from  their 
calcined  shells  the  lime  for  their  betel-chewing.  Several  deep 
plots  were  entirely  appropriated  to  the  propagation  of  fish,  and 
in  them  Water-lilies  {Symnanthemum)  and  other  aquatic  plants 
grew  in  great  luxuriance,  dotting  the  surface  with  their  large 
white  and  pink  or  yellow  flowers,  and  giving  to  the  fields  the 
appearance  of  a  garden. 

The  only  periods  when  a  really  industrious  spirit  seems 
to  prevail  among  these  people  are  during  the  planting  and  the 
reaping  seasons.  Then  the  whole  family — men,  as  well  as 
women  and  children — turn  out  to  assist,  and  remain  in  the 
fields  from  morning  till  dusk. 

Before  beginning  to  plant  the  crop,  a  charm  is  placed  in  a 
favourable  and  fertile  spot  in  one  of  the  plots,  in  order  to  secure 
a  good  harvest.  Four  of  the  finest  ears  of  jjaddy  from  the  pre- 
ceding crop  are  stuck  into  the  ground  in  the  form  of  a  square, 
and  by  the  side  of  each  a  little  wand  of  the  leaf  of  the  Areng 
palm,  to  whose  extremity  is  bound  a  little  packet  of  cotton- 
wool inclosing  a  few  rice-grains  of  large  size ;  in  the  centre  of 
the  square  is  planted  a  stem  of  Sasangai  grass  (which  has  a  long 
and  many-corned  ear),  with  a  fruit-bearing  twig  of  the  Jambu 
[Myrtaceae)  on  each  side  of  it.  This,  being  interpreted, 
means :  "  JMay  the  rice  of  which  this  is  a  sample  here  grow 
in  these  fields  stout  and  strong,  and  with  heads  as  fruitful  as 
this  Sasangai,  with  corns  as  large  as  this  sample,  and  as  sweet 
as  the  Jambu."  In  the  harvest  time  this  little  square  is  left 
to  the  end,  and  the  lucky  sheaf  is  carried  last  of  all.     This 


IN   THE  EASTERN  ARCHIPELAGO.  171 

reminded  me  of  the  ''  claik  sheaf  "  of  the  northern  counties  of 
Scotland,  for  which  a  rich  scytheful  is  selected,  and  of  the 
superstitions  attaching  to  its  cutting.  The  fields  must  present 
here  a  picturesque  sight  in  the  reaping  season,  and  one  I 
should  have  liked  to  see,  for  the  harvesters  in  their  many- 
coloured  garments  and  hats  stand  in  the  water  amid  the  yellow 
grain  and  push  before  them  narrow-pointed  skiffs  to  receive 
the  heads  of  corn  as  they  are  snipped  off. 

At  other  seasons  of  the  year  the  people  are  lazy  enough — 
that  is,  the  male  jjortion  of  them ; — for  the  women  almost 
entirely  look  after  the  dry-ground  crops,  the  tobacco,  cofiee, 
maize,  &c..,  and  daily  go  to  the  fields  to  fetch  the  produce, 
returning  with  enormous  loads  in  baskets  susjaended  on  the 
back  by  a  cord  across  the  forehead.  The  sole  delight  of  the 
men  is  in  tending  their  gamecocks.  The  villager  carries  one 
with  him  wherever  he  goes  ;  and  whenever  his  hands  are  free 
he  may  be  seen  with  it  under  his  arm,  patting  and  stroking  it. 
It  is  generally  tethered  by  a  cord  to  an  elegantly  made  peg 
in  some  shady  spot  near  the  house ;  and,  should  another  cock 
attack  his  captive  pet,  its  owner  will  rush  to  its  rescue  more 
speedily  than  he  would  to  the  cry  of  his  child. 

Here  and  throughout  the  district  goitre  was  extremely 
prevalent,  nearly  twenty  per  cent,  of  the  people  being  affected. 
It  is  ascribed  by  some  to  the  great  loads  carried  by  the  women 
on  their  foreheads ;  but  they  did  not  seem  more  subject  than 
the  men.  I  saw  even  children  of  seven  and  eight  years  of  age 
with  the  beo-inninfi:  of  the  disease.  The  natives  themselves 
ascribe  it  to  the  soil,  but  why  they  could  not  say.  I  was  told 
by  the  head  of  the  village  that  in  the  Makakau  district  (to 
the  north)  which  is  notorious  for  its  goitre,  seventy  per  cent, 
are  affected.  The  soil  of  the  Hoodjoong  district  is  a  sandy 
pumicestone  tufa.  It  is  held  by  some  authorities  that  the  only 
important  point  established  as  to  the  rocks  in  which  goitre 
does  not  occur  is  the  absence  of  limestone  and  metallic  im- 
purities, and  that  endemic  goitre  coincides  with  metalliferous 
deposits,  iron  pyrites  being  in  the  fore  rank.  Later  on  in  my 
journey  I  found  on  the  Eavvas  river  far  less  goitre,  where  we 
have  Silurian  rocks  and  some  limestone  and  metalliferous — 
iron  pyrites  and  gold — strata  than  on  this  pumicestone  plateau, 
which  is  non-metalliferous. 


172  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

Laid  up  for  some  weeks  from  ulcerated  wounds,  I  was 
unable  personally  to  do  so  much  on  the  higher  parts  of  the 
Besagi  as  I  could  have  desired.  From  what  my  hunters  and 
collectors  brought  in,  it  was  evident  that  its  elevation  corre- 
sponds very  nearly  with  that  of  the  Tengamus — about  7000 
feet — in  the  Lampongs ;  myrtles,  ericas,  rhododendrons  and 
moss-loving  orchids,  and  high-growing  species  of  MeJasto- 
macese  were  among  the  most  characteristic  plants.  It  was 
trying  to  the  temper  to  hear  accounts  of  abundant  tracks  of 
the  fine  goat-like  antelope  (Capricornis  simiatrensis)  whose 
footprints  I  had  so  wistfully  followed  on  the  Tengamus 
without  success.  The  return  of  my  bird  hunters,  however, 
was  always  for  me  the  great  event  of  the  day.  As  birds 
were  very  abundant,  my  collection  increased  rapidly.  Among 
the  more  interesting  species  may  be  mentioned  Orescius  gouldi, 
one  of  the  Trogons,  the  orange  of  whose  breast  washes  com- 
pletly  out  in  spirit  of  wine ;  Criniger  gxdturalis,  two  species  of 
Myoplioneus  (M.  melanura  and  M.  dicrorhyndius),  which  in  the 
evening  flitted  about  from  stone  to  stone  with  a  loud  whistle, 
the  former  quite  endearing  itself  to  me  by  its  blackbird- 
like form  and  habits ;  Pohjpledrou  chalcururus,  one  of  the 
Phasianidie ;  and  Arhorophila  personata,  a  little  partridge, 
differing  from  the  type  in  being  more  bluish-ash  on  the  breast 
and  more  closely  barrred  with  black  on  the  back. 

I  was,  however,  able  to  entomologise  among  the  sunny  avenue- 
like roads  that  for  several  miles  led  away  from  the  villajre, 
where  flocks  of  Cgrestes  {Nijmpltcdidie),  spread  their  chastely 
marked  wings  flat  on  the  ground,  and  delicate  Lycmnidse 
disported  in  great  numbers ;  of  other  Lepidoptera  the  more 
interesting  species  may  be  named :  CaUiduIa  javanica,  which 
emitted  a  strong  and  disagreeable  odour ;  Melanitis  suradeva, 
on  stumps  of  trees  under  the  shade ;  a  fine  new  species  of 
Amnosia ;  Eurhinia  fulva,  lately  discovered  in  Tenasserim  by 
my  friend  Captain  Bingham ;  one  of  the  prettiest  species  of  the 
Ecoplioridaf' ;  two  new  species  of  that  curious  genus  named  by 
Butler  Homopsgche  from  their  singular  resemblance  to  a  Homo- 
pteron,  and  for  which  I  at  first  took  them  ;  and  Botijs  dedudalis, 
a  species  known  also  from  Ceylon,  an  island  ^\ith  which  Sumatra 
seems  to  have  many  species  in  common  ;  in  Telok-betong  I 
netted   a   small   moth  at   light,  Pentacitrotus  transversa,  also 


IN  THE  EASTERN  ARCHIPELAGO.  173 

represented  in  Ceylon.  Frequenting  dark-coloured  tree-stems, 
I  observed  (and  secured)  some  fine  specimens  of  flocks  of 
Amnosia  decora.  It  lias  a  curious  habit  of  settling  high  up, 
then  running  down  the  trunk,  stopping  at  intervals  flapping  its 
wings ;  then  flying  off  to  a  neighbouring  stem  to  perform  the 
same  manoeuvres.  A  few  miles  from  Hoodjoong  I  captured 
the  Eusemia  helangeri  spread  out  on  broad  leaves  of  Scita- 
minefe.  It  emits  a  powerful  odour  of  cloves.  Several  species 
of  lepidoptera  mimic  members  of  the  Agaristidse,  but  I  did 
not  discover  here  if  Eusemia  helangeri  had  a  double.  From 
the  island  of  Nias  (on  the  west  coast  of  Sumatra)  Mr.  Butler 
has  recently  described  {Ann.  and  Mag.  of  Nat.  Hist.,  July  1884) 
a  moth,  a  species  of  Euscliemidfe  (Panoethia  iimulans)  which 
mimics  Ophthahnis  decipiens  (of  the  Agaristidx) ;  while  in 
Amboina,  Ophthahnis  liii'^ea  (which  belongs  to  the  same  family) 
is  mimicked  by  Artaxa  simidans  (of  the  Liparidee). 
13 


174  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


CHAPTER  IV. 

SOJOURN   IN    THE    PALEMBANG    EESIDENCY — Continue  L 

1-eave  Hoodjoong — Uenurlalion — Great  Avnms — Sukau — Chiefs  of  the  Eannn 
region — Tandjontr-djati  on  ihe  llanau  Lake — The  high  temperature  of  the 
water — Birds,  fishes,  interest'ng  insects — Banding  Aaong — To  Mnaia 
Diia — Throunh  Kisani — Geological  notes — Kisani  villages — Coat  of 
arms — Writing,  dress,  religion  of  Kisam  people. 

Leaving  Hoodjoong  in  the  end  of  January,  I  proceeded  nortli 
eastward  towards  Monnt  Siminung  and  tlie  Ranaii  lake 
district ;  repassing  on  the  way  Kenali  and  Eatu-brali,  I  crossed 
the  Semangka  river  near  its  head-waters,  as  a  small  stream  run- 
ning in  a  very  deep  valley  of  soft  sandstone.  In  descending 
the  face  of  the  valley  the  gigantic  results  of  denudation  were 
very  striking,  where  the  rain  of  only  one  season  had  been 
sufficient  to  excavate  enormous  ravines.  Even  the  rain  of  a 
few  days  had  newly  washed  down  thousands  of  tons'  weight 
from  its  slopes.  From  this  cause  the  whole  country  was 
exceedingly  picturesque,  sculptured  out  into  singular  and 
rugged  outlines,  steep  gorges  and  precipitous  valleys.  From 
such  a  landscape  one  is  able  to  picture  faintly  the  effect  of 
this  vast  levelling  agent  working  ceaselessly  through  cycles 
of  time,  in  carving  and  changing  the  face  of  the  country  and 
in  planing  down  the  mountains  and  table-lands,  even  where 
protected  by  virgin  forest. 

From  the  crossing  of  the  Semangka  river  the  road  to  the 
northward  rises  to  the  watershed  of  the  rivers  which  fall  on 
the  one  hand  south  to  the  Sem.angka  Bay,  and  on  the  other 
into  the  lake  Ranau  and  thence  eastward  by  an  arm  of  that 
immense  river  system  which  drains  the  whole  eastern  side  of 
the  Barisan  range  for  more  than  200  miles  due  north,  and  dis- 
charges itself  into  the  Java  sea  below  tlie  cpieer  half-floating 
town  of  l*alembang.     This  mountain  road,  3000  feet  above  the 


IN  THE  EASTERN  ARCHIPELAGO.  175 


sea,  led  me  across  as  pretty  and  picturesque  a  piece  of  country 
as  one  could  wish  to  travel  through,  winding  round  tlie  head  of 
deep  glens,  with  occasional  gorges  to  right  and  left  which  have 
left  only  three  feet  of  ridge-path  betv/een  them,  and  alono-  the 
face  of  forest-clad  precipices,  hundreds  of  feet  deep  below 
which  flowed  hidden  streams  ^^hose  murmur  bubbled  up  from 
among  the  trees  as  a  pleasant  music.  In  descending  from  the 
plateau  I  found  at  about  2500  feet,  growing  in  sandy  soil  where 
it  seems  best  to  flourish,  several  stems  of  the  giant  arum 
{Amorpliophallus  titanum)  one  of  the  largest  known  herbs.  The 
biggest  of  thes3  specimens  measured  seventeen  feet  in  heio-ht. 

Descending  from  the  northern  face  of  the  plateau,  I  was  met 
by  the  chief  and  under-chiefs  of  the  marga,  at  some  distance 
from  the  village  of  Sukau,  where  I  was  to  spend  the  night ; 
and  at  the  boundary  of  the  village  I  was  greeted  by  a  crowd 
of  the  inhabitants  and  a  band  consisting  of  three  youths — one 
in  the  middle  fingered  a  flute  which  he  had  newly  cut  from  a 
bamboo,  the  two  others  each  beat  a  small  bronze  gong  botli 
of  them  cracked,  which  they  carried  in  one  hand  suspended 
before  them  by  a  cord,  tinkling  it  with  a  short  twig  in  the 
other — who  played  me  to  the  Balai  to  the  notes  perhaps  of 
their  margal  anthem.  Providentially  the  stateliness  of  the 
occasion  made  conversation  out  of  place,  otherwise,  had  it  been 
necessary  to  open  my  compressed  lips,  I  would  have  shocked  the 
fathers  of  the  people  by  the  heartiness  of  my  mirth,  for  never  have 
I  taken  part  in  so  ludicrous  a  procession  Avitli  so  solemn  a 
countenance.  Consider  its  composition  :  the  musical  advance- 
guard  as  I  have  described ;  the  central  figure  under  a  hat  as  big 
as  an  umbrella,  in  garments  the  worse  of  repeated  conflicts  \\ith 
the  thorns  and  thickets  of  the  forest,  seated  on  a  small  steed 
caparisoned  in  a  bridle  with  more  knotted  cords  than  leather 
in  its  composition  and  in  a  saddle  that  required  everv  artful 
device  to  keep  it  from  falling  to  pieces,  his  long,  great-booted 
legs  almost  trailing  on  the  ground  ;  alongside  on  either  hand 
the  mute  chiefs  in  duly  solemn  countenances,  followed  by  a 
rear-guard  of  coolies  with  mv  ba;i-<rafre,  and  the  ireneral  crowd 
of  men,  woirfen  and  children — and  who  would  not  have  desired 
to  relieve  liis  twitching  pent-up  risorins  muscles? 

Next  morning  I  continued  my  way  towards  the  Lake  Ranau, 
and  at  the  marches  of  tlie  Kroe  and  Palembang  Residencies, 


176  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

the  confines  of  their  territory,  my  hosts  of  Sukau  took  farewell, 
and  I  was  welcomed  by  the  chiefs  of  the  neighbouring  mar- 
gas,  who  conducted  me  to  Tandjong-djati,  the  village  where 
I  purposed  to  spend  some  time.  If  I  was  the  day  before 
inclined  somewhat  to  levity  at  the  general  appearance  of  the 
procession  that  greeted  me,  I  felt  embarrassed  the  other  way 
on  meetino;  these  chiefs  of  the  Ranau  district.  Sedate-lookin": 
men  of  middle  age  they  were,  dressed  in  neat  black  official 
coats,  spotlessly  clean  collars,  white  starched  trousers  with  a 
sarong  girt  about  their  loins,  patent  leather  boots,  and  on  their 
lieads  the  imposing  official  cap,  which  I  saw  then  for  the  first 
time,  mitre-like  in  shape,  covered  with  cloth  of  gold,  while  each 
carried  in  his  hand  a  gold-topped  stick  bearing  the  arms  of  his 
Majesty  of  Holland,  the  insigna  of  his  office.  They  looked 
such  aristocratic  personages  and  so  faultlessly  attired  that  I 
felt  that  I  ought  to  descend  from  my  horse  and  bow  myself 
to  the  ground  in  return  for  the  profound  salaam  with  wliich 
they  received  me. 

After  the  usual  festivities  given  on  the  visit  of  a  white  man, 
in  which  the  dancing  of  the  maidens,  attired  jn  their  best 
attire  and  jev.els,  is  always  a  conspicuous  feature,  I  settled 
into  possession  of  my  new  home  with  a  light  and  hopeful 
heart,  for  it  was  situated  in  a  district  considered  to  be  one 
of  the  prettiest  in  Sumatra,  by  the  margin  of  the  lake 
looking  out  on  the  cone  of  the  Siminung ;  but  the  very 
night  of  my  arrival,  whether  by  accident  or  by  design  is 
doubtful,  some  poisonous  drug  was  placed  in  one  or  other 
dish  of  my  evening  meal,  Avhich  induced  profuse  internal 
haemorrhage  that  nearly  jjroved  fatal  to  me.  Happily  a  strong 
emetic  rid  me  of  the  noxious  ingredient,  and  a  few  days  of 
care  restored  me  to  my  normal  condition ;  but  it  is  not  a 
very  pleasant  reminiscence  of  the  place. 

The  Ranau  Lake  lies  1700  feet  above  the  sea  level  at  the 
foot  of  the  now  quiescent — if  ever  within  historical  times  active 
— volcano  of  the  Siminung.  From  its  shape,  which  is  that  of 
two  irregular  circles  run  together,  it  appears  to  occupy  the 
site  of  an  old  crater.  In  the  centre  it  is  of  extreme  depth. 
At  various  points  round  the  margin  nearest  the  Siminung,  hot 
springs  of  1-I7^  F.  of  temperature  bubble  up,  and  warm  the 
greater  portion  of  the  western  end  from  7~  to  10^  higher  than 


7.V  SUMATRA.  177 


that  of  the  air.  It  is  abuiidautly  stocked  with  fish  and 
bivalve  mollusea ;  but  when  they  approach  too  near  the 
warmer  shore,  where  the  temperature  is  above  100^  F.,  the 
water  instantly  proves  fatal  to  them.  These  springs  and  the 
very  frequent  earthquakes — no  fewer  than  three  occurred  durini- 
my  short  stay — attest  that,  though  the  volcano  is  now  qui- 
escent, the  interior  of  the  earth  here  is  in  a  very  unquiet  state. 

Tall  forest  trees  clothed  the  high  margins  of  the  lake,  which 
descended  here  and  there  to  grassy  bays  and  level  green 
swamps ;  on  the  sandy  margins  flourished  fig-trees  and  Ery- 
thrinas  with  large  bright  scarlet  flowers,  on  whose  crooked 
stems  flocks  of  blue  herons  {Butorides  javanica)  and  pure 
white  egrets  (Bubidcus  coromandus)  constantly  sat  dozing  out 
the  heat  of  the  day.  In  the  early  mornings  they  had  busied 
themselves  in  gathering  the  leeches  and  insects  from  the 
backs  of  the  buffaloes,  by  whom  their  kind  offices  seemed 
highly  appreciated.  On  the  higli  solitary  trees  perched 
clumsy,  bald-headed  adjutants  {Lsptoptilus),  whose  thin  long 
legs  always  suggested  the  idea  that  they  had  escaped  from 
some  taxidermist's  hands  when  he  had  just  got  the  length  of 
running  the  wires  up  their  shanks.  In  the  marshes  snipe 
abounded  in  great  plenty;  grey  djoo-jooats  {Tringoides)  on 
the  sandy  beaches,  and  shy  water-hens  {Hijpot.'vnidia  striata) 
among  the  tall  flags.  The  lake  teemed  with  fish  of  many  kinds, 
the  best  being  the  semah  (Leobarhus)  which,  when  full-grown, 
is  as  large  as  the  largest  salmon,  and  the  katjubang  {Botia 
macranthus),  a  small  but  most  boautiful  scarlet-  and  black- 
banded  fish. 

A  few  interesting  captures  of  insects,  many  of  them  quite 
new  species,  were  made  here  by  the  margins  of  the  lake ; 
especially  may  be  mentioned  Xeropteryx  simplicior,  previously 
known  only  from  Borneo,  and  Hdm-odes  ansonialis,  described 
before  from  the  far-distant  Duke  of  York  Island,  east  of  Xew 
Guinea;  and  two  splendid  new  species  of  Papilio,  P.  itamputi 
of  jMr.  l>ntler,  and  P.forjesio^  Smith,  allied  to  P.  alciaiiadts. 

The  viHage  of  Bauding  Agong,  whither  I  moved  for  a  short 
time  as  the  guest  of  ]\Ir.  Hisgen,  the  Controller  of  the  district, 
was  a  delightful  spot,  situated  at  the  south-east  angle  on  a 
high  but  sheltered  spot,  connnanding  one  of  the  finest  views  of 
the  lake  that  can  be  had,  exactly  fronting  the  volcano  and  the 


178  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

peaks  of  the  Tapa  Skandri,  or  Footstep  of  (no  less  a  hero  than) 
Alexander  the  Great,  whom  the  chiefs  of  these  regions  claim, 
singularly  enough,  as  their  illustrious  stem-father.  The 
industry  of  the  lake  borders,  for  \vhi(di  it  is  famed  through- 
out  the  Archipelago,  is  its  tobacco  culture,  which  is  grown  on 
a  loose  porous  earth  composed  of  the  detritus  of  pumicestone 
mixed  with  humus.  The  finest  quality  is  made  from  none 
but  the  very  topmost  leaves  of  the  plant,  and  commands  a 
very  high  price. 

From  the  lake,  on  my  next  stage  towards  the  Dempo,  the 
road  descended  through  the  same  picturesque  country  (in 
former  ages  probably  the  bottom  of  a  Eanau  lake  greater  than 
now)  all  the  way  to  Muara-dua.  This  town,  "  at  the  mouth  ot 
two  rivers "  as  its  name  signifies,  is  situated  at  the  union 
of  the  Sako  with  the  broad  Komering  river,  and  is  the 
seat  of  a  large  trade  by  river  with  Palembang  in  cotton, 
tobacco,  rice,  timber,  and  "  birds'  nests  " — the  edible  swifts' 
nests — gathered  from  dark  calcareous  grottoes  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood. The  town,  though  distant  200  miles  in  a  direct 
line  from  the  sea,  is  only  400  feet  above  its  level,  and  stands 
really  on  the  edge  of  the  great  alluvial  plain  which  lies  aloug 
the  entire  eastern  shores  of  Sumatra,  formed  by  the  detritus 
washed  down  from  the  Earisan  range  into  a  sea  whose  coast- 
line, retreating  by  a  slight  elevation  of  the  land,  left  dry  this 
broad  plain,  which  rises  nowhere  throughout  its  vast  extent 
more  than  000  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  Before  its 
upheaval,  South  Sumatra  could  not  have  been  more  than  100 
miles  broad.  Several  great  river  systems,  running  in  a  general 
west  to-east  direction  fan-shape  in  form,  traverse  it,  and  are 
laying  down  along  the  margin  of  the  land  a  further  deposit, 
the  slight  elevation  of  which,  for  some  thirty  feet  only 
between  Palembang  and  the  Island  of  Banka,  would  raise  the 
shallow  sea  into  dry  land.  Near  the  town  of  Muara-dua  I  was 
surprised  to  net  a  European  moth  {Fhragmatiecia  arundinis). 

My  further  course  northward  traversed  the  sources  of  the 
great  arms  of  the  southern  of  these  systems. 

Sending  my  baggage  on  to  Pengandonan  by  the  level  road 
on  the  low  lands,  I  proceeded  on  foot  thither  over  the  Kisam 
Hills.  Just  above  Muara-dua  the  Slabung  river  was  crossed  by 
a  very  high  suspension-bridge  of  a  most  picturesque  construe- 


IN  SUMATRA.  179 


tion.  In  the  form  of  a  segment  of  a  great  circle,  its  floor  was 
of  cylindrical  logs  securely  tied  to  three  gigantic  rattan  cables 
the  true  supports  of  the  bridge,  fixed  to  the  shore  pillars; 
over  these  logs  was  a  close  bamboo  basket-worlc  pleasant  to 
the  nude  foot  of  the  pedestrian,  railed  on  both  sides,  and  pro- 
tected overhead  by  a  close  thatched  roof — the  whole  forming- 
a  long  hanging  cage,  which  swayed  freely  as  it  was  traversed. 
From  this  bridge  I  again  ascended  abruptly  on  to  what  was 
once  in  all  probability  the  bed  of  the  Eanau  lake  before  its 
dimensions  were  interfered  with  by  upheavals.  The  rivers  I 
passed  had  cut  deep  rocky  gorges,  down  which  it  required 
some  care  to  pick  one's  steps,  through  the  strata  of  150  to 
200  feet  in  depth,  showing  the  pumicestone  tuff  superin- 
cumbent on  Tertiarv  rocks  of  Eocene  aw  containino;  fossil 
Cypriea,  Teredina,  and  Pecten  shells.  The  whole  country  was 
undulating,  and  full  of  alang-alang  grass,  and  low  second- 
growth  forest  which  presented  in  itself  little  of  interest,  and 
prevented  any  view  of  the  surrounding  country. 

The  houses  of  the  Kisam  people  were  of  a  pattern  of  their 
own.  They  were  mostly  of  bamboo  wickerwork  fitted  into  a 
framework  of  wood,  and  slated  with  little  boards  of  cedrilla 
wood.  Each  house  had  built  out  from  it  a  chamber  on  the 
same  level  with  it  under  a  slightly  lower  roof,  which  was  used 
as  a  lounging  place  for  the  owner  and  a  sleej)ing  room  for 
visitors.  The  door  was  reached — as  the  houses  stood  on  tall 
piles — by  a  slanting  tree-trunk,  in  which  a  series  of  notches 
only  large  enough  to  admit  the  toes  served  as  steps,  and  up 
which  a  booted  traveller  found  it  no  easy  matter  to  ascend. 
The  space  below  tlie  house  was  blocked  with  chopped-up  wood, 
whose  primary  use  was,  doubtless,  as  a  protection  against  the 
entrance  of  thieves  or  attack  from  below  by  enemies,  as  it  is 
apparent  how  easy  it  would  be  to  thrust  a  spear  or  other 
instrument  through  the  bamboo  floor  into  the  bodies  of  the 
sleepers  resting  on  it.  The  beneath  of  a  man's  liouse  is  con- 
sidered almost  as  sacred  as  its  interior,  and  their  laws  attached 
supreme  penalties  to  the  crime  of  being  found  at  night  there. 
The  liouse  framework  in  most  of  the  villages  was  elaborately 
carved  in  intricate  patterns  executed  with  the  most  patient 
care.  In  Padjar-bulan,  a  very  old  village  which  I  passed 
through,  the  decorative  carving  far  exceeded  in  profusion  aud 


180 


A   NATURALIST'S    V/ANDERINGS 


excellence  that  in  any  of  the  others,  especially  in  its  Balai, 
where  I  was  greatly  interested  in  finding  what  I  may  call  a 
veritable  coat  of  arms,  carved  ont  of  an  immense  block  of  wood 
and  erected  in  the  central  position,  where  one  would  expect 
an  object  with  the  significance  of  a  coat  of  arms  to  be  placed. 
From  what  I  could  learn  it  had  such  a  significance  in  the 
estimation  of  the  chief  of  the  village  ;  for  he  told  me  that 
only  such  villages  as  could  claim  origin  from  some  distant 
village  could  erect  such  a  carving  in  their  Balai.  I  am  not, 
however,  master  enough  of  the  terms  of  blazonry  current  in 
the  College  of  Arms  to  describe  it  in  fitting  language.  The 
shield  had  double  supporters ;  on  each  side  a  tiger  rampant 


COAT  OF   ARMS    IN    THE    VILLAGE   OF    PADJAn-BULAN. 


bearing  on  its  back  a  snake  defiant,  upheld  the  shield,  in  whose 
centre  the  most  prominent  quartering  was  a  floral  ornament, 
which  might  be  a  sunflower  shading  two  deer,  one  on  each  side — 
the  dexter  greater  than  the  sinister.  Above  the  floral  ornament 
was  a  central  and  to  me  unintelligible  halfmoon-like  blazon- 
ing, but  on  either  side  of  it  was  an  "  ulai  lidai "  (Chorus  of 
bystanders  :  "  Undoubtedly  an  ulai  lidai  "),  but  of  what  it  was 
the  similitude  among  created  things,  beyond  suggesting  faintly 
the  lineaments  of  a  scorpion,  I  was  not  pursuivant  enough  to 
recognise ;  on  the  sinister  of  the  two,  however,  was  a  man 
"  tandacking  "  (dancing).  Below  the  tips  of  the  conjoined  tails 
of  the  supporting  tigers  were  two  ornate  triangles,  the  upper 


IN  SUMATRA.  181 


balanced  on  the  apex  of  the  lower,  which  might  with  truth 
be  described  as  the  supporter  of  the  whole,  but  whether  these 
bear  any  reference  to  the  mystic  signs  recognised  by  the 
Worshipful  Lodges  is  a  question  that  I  must  leave  for  the 
Chief  3[ason  to  settle  as  best  he  can  with  the  Chief  Herald.  I 
feel  inclined,  however,  to  assert  that  it  was  as  good  an  escut- 
cheon, and  as  well  and  honourably  emblazoned,  as  any  that  ever 
emanated  from  the  College  ;  and  who  dare  say  that  it  is  less 
ancient  ?  The  sight  of  that  emblazoned  board  and  its  carved 
surroundings,  hid  away  in  a  small  little-known  hamlet  in  the 
Kisam  hills  among  a  half-savage  and  pagan  people,  astonished 
me  not  a  little,  and  added  respect  to  my  farewell  salutation  to 
its  chief. 

The  Kisam  people  write  in  a  character  called,  from  its  being 
inscribed  on  bamboos  with  a  pointed  knife,  rentjorig,  differing 
only  slightly  from  that  used  in  the  Lampongs,  which  nearly 
all  of  them — women  included — can  read  and  write.  Durinir 
my  journey  I  was  able  to  obtain  several  interesting  bamboos 
inscribed  with  their  songs.  These  pantuns  are  metrical  com- 
positions consisting  of  lines  of  eight  to  ten  feet  in  length, 
sometimes  rhyming  and  sometimes  not ;  but  they  are  curious 
in  that  after  every  few  lines  one  or  two  others  which  have 
absolutely  no  meaning  in  themselves,  or  connection  with  the 
composition,  are  interpolated  ;  some  euphonious  word  being 
caught  up  and  added  to  others  more  or  less  alliterating  with 
it,  to  make  a  good  jingle  of  sounds. 

The  dress  of  the  women  is  remarkable  for  its  shortness  and 
scantiness.  As  a  rule  their  single  garment  is  made  by  them- 
selves in  the  pattern  peculiar  to  their  district,  from  their  own 
home-jrrown  cotton  or  silk.  But  the  cultivation  of  the  silk- 
worm  is  now  almost  abandoned,  since  unrestricted  intercourse 
with  Palombanf»:,  and  throuji^h  it  with  the  outside  world,  brinjrs 
the  ])roducts  of  foreign  looms  to  their  out-of-the-way  doors 
with  less  trouble  than  they  can  make  them  for  themselves. 
Thus  are  the  waves  of  civilisation  sweeping  away  the  indi- 
genous industrial  arts  of  the  people,  and  Hooding  out  their 
manufactures,  turning  the  hereditary  craftspeople  to  other 
occupations. 

The  people  are  pagan,  believing  in  the  influence  of  the 
spirits  of  their  dead  forefathers.     Near  the  village  of  Gunung 


182  A   NATUBALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

Megaiig  I  came  on  their  burial-ground,  laid  out  in  the  forest 
by  the  pathside — a  great  elevated  quadrangular  mound,  in 
length  just  enough  to  admit  a  full-grown  body.  A  rough 
stone  at  head  and  foot  indicated  where  each  person  lay  side 
by  side  with  his  neighbour.  Only  the  married  people  are 
interred  in  this  common  burying-place,  in  the  right,  perhaps, 
of  their  being  parents  of  the  people ;  all  others,  youths 
and  infants — useless  off-shoots  of  their  race — are  buried  any- 
where in  the  forest,  and.  always  some  distance  from  where 
their  elders  lie.  An  unmarried  woman  about  to  give  birth  to 
a  child  is  compelled  to  leave  the  village  and  retreat  to  the 
forest,  whence  after  some  forty  days  of  solitary  sojourn  she 
returns — never  with  her  offspring — and  the  village  is  purified 
by  the  sacrifice  of  a  buffalo.  Their  most  sacred  oath  is  sworn 
by  placing  a  hand  over  the  grave  of  their  forefathers  amid 
the  incense  of  benzoin,  or  in  a  circle  drawn  on  the  ground  : 
"  May  the  spirit  of  my  forefathers  afflict  me  if  I  have  spoken 
falsely,"  being  the  formula.  The  same  manner  of  swearing 
obtains,  I  am  told,  among  the  inhabitants  of  the  Makakau, 
Komering  (Muara-dua),  iSemindo,  and  Blalau  (Hoodjoong) 
regions.  The  Kisam  people  swear  also  by  drinking  the 
water  in  which  a  kriss  has  been  dipped,  as  well  as  by  the 
spirit  of  Tuan  Raja  Gnavvo,  who  has  his  dwelling-place  on 
Mount  Dempo. 


IN  SUMATRA.  183 


CHAPTER  Y. 

SOJOURK    IN    THE    TALEMBANG   RESIDENCY    {continued). 

From  Gunung  Mcgang — -Luntar — A  surprise — River  Ogan — Curious  hills 
— Oinamcntal  carving — A  village  fair — A  cock-fight — Into  the  Inini 
Valley — Miiara  Inim — Lahat — Passnmah  lands — Ceremonial  formulas — 
The  ))eople- — -Marriage  ceremonies — -Illegitimate  births — Keligion — Death 
superstitions  antl  rites — Sculptured  stones — Interesting  visit  from  Beu- 
coolen  men. 

Taking  my  departure  from  Gunung-  IMegang,  and  crossing  the 
watershed  into  the  Ogan  valley  at  2000-3U00  feet  above  sea- 
level,  I  descended  towards  Pengandonan.  Passing  through 
the  village  of  Luntar,  I  found  the  chiefs  of  the  mar^-a  and  a 
great  concourse  of  people  from  all  the  region  assembled  on  the 
third  anniversary  of  the  death  of  the  Headman's  father,  to 
secure  the  welfare  of  his  soul  by  feasts  and  sports.  Here  was 
waiting  for  me  the  Pangeran  of  Pengandonan,  which  was  the 
adjacent  marga.  After  a  liberal  refreshment  of  tea,  with 
the  ubiquitous  Huntley  and  Palmers'  biscuits,  and  a  Palem- 
bang  baked  comfit,  made  principally  of  sago  and  the  hashed-up 
flesh  of  a  fish  (whose  large  scales,  dyed  of  various  colours, 
are  extensively  used — and  admirably  adapted  for  the  purpose 
they  are — to  cover  or  "  tile  "  over  the  large  leaf  hats  used  in 
the  district),  and  some  ripe  juicy  oranges,  I  set  out  with  my 
host  for  Pengandonan  lower  down  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
Ogan.  We  crossed  the  river  on  a  raft  at  a  very  beautiful  si)ot 
at  the  confluence  of  the  Laham  and  the  Ogan.  On  our  left 
were  several  curiously  formed,  abrupt  hills  ;  facing  us  was  tlie 
bare-topped,  calcareous  peak  of  the  liiang  rising  sheer  Irom  the 
bank,  and  just  above  the  ferry  was  moored  a  flotilla  of  rakits — 
those  picturesque  floating  houses  by  which  the  produce  of  the 
region  is  transported  to  the  coast,  which  to  the  trader  are  ship  and 
comfortabh'  house  for  many  days  together  on  these  great  rivers. 


184  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

A  short  intercourse  with  the  Pangeran  served  to  show  that 
he  was  a  native  far  superior  in  intelligence  and  ability  to 
most  of  the  chiefs  about  him.  Though  dressed  no  better 
than  the  ordinary  native,  and  preferring  his  sandals — whose 
possession  is  always  a  mark  of  superiority — carried  behind  him 
to  wearing  them,  he  had  even  more  than  usual  of  the  easy 
dignified  politeness  and  gentlemanly  bearing  of  the  higher 
Malays.  Yet  when,  a  few  yards  from  the  river  bank,  below  a 
shade  of  trees,  we  suddenly  came  on  a  neat  carriage  evidently 
waiting  for  some  one,  so  little  was  I  prepared  for  his  reply  to 
my  surprised  query,  "  Whose  is  the  carriage  ?  "  that  it  almost 
'  took  away  my  breath '  when  he  quietly  but  not  a\  ithout  a 
little  pride,  said,  "  It  is  mine."  The  carriage  was  drawn  by  a 
pair  of  well-kept  black  ponies,  furnished  with  every  European 
appurtenance.  It  certainly  was  incongruous,  one  felt,  this 
spanking  pair,  with  bright  silver  harness,  whirling  through 
villages  of  poor-looking  cottages  without  one  refined  taste  to 
match  this  specimen  of  high  civilisation  in  their  midst.  Every 
village  we  passed  through  poured  out  its  inhabitants  to  see  the 
bright  equipage,  which,  though  housed  quite  near,  was  evidently 
a  by  no  means  common  apparition.  The  women  stared  with 
open  mouth,  and  the  children,  in  all  the  clothing  nature  had 
given  them,  raced  us  for  a  long  way,  shouting  with  all  their 
might.  It  was  evident  tliat  the  Pangeran,  satisfied  with  the 
honour  of  having  purchased  such  a  possession,  was  not  much 
given  to  indulging  himself  in  the  use  of  it,  if  one  may  judge 
by  the  undaunted  way,  utterly  regardless  of  dynamical 
principles,  in  which  he  took  the  most  rectangular  pieces  of  a 
road  never  made  for  a  carriage.  Perhaps  I  may  misjudge 
him,  and  he  may  have  so  accurately  known  these  principles  as 
to  be  able  to  drive  within  an  inch  or  so  of  the  centre  of  gravity 
without  dislodging  it.  He  never  eased  up  to  a  corner ;  even 
a  double  right-angled  "  hook  "  was  described  with  wonderful 
precision,  if  not  with  the  utmost  comfort.  Holes  or  no  holes, 
logs  or  no  logs  in  the  way,  he  never  drew  rein  till  we  halted 
for  good  at  the  door  of  the  Pasanggrahan,  a  rest-house  which 
he  himself  had  erected  on  the  right  bank  of  the  river  for  the 
benefit  of  officials  visiting  the  district. 

From  the  verandah  of  the  house  the  scene,  which  could  be 
leisurely  watched  as   I  comfortably   rested,  was  one  of  great 


IN  SUM  ATE  A.  185 


interest.  Across  the  river  the  village  of  Pengandonan  glinted 
through  the  palms ;  the  villagers  were  constantly  going  to  or 
returning  with  loads  of  fruit  and  vegetables  from  the  fields  in 
little  boats,  or  poling  up  and  down  or  across  the  river  on 
narrow  rafts  of  five  or  six  short  bamboos  lashed  together; 
there  was  a  constant  stream  of  \\omen  and  children  either  to 
bathe  or  to  A\ash  rice  or  to  fill  with  water  the  basketful  ot 
bamboos  slung  behind  them.  As  every  one  wore  more  or  less 
brightly-coloured  garments  and  cylindrical  hats  painted  with 
drajron's-blood  red,  the  scene  had  no  lack  of  colour  or  life  to 
make  it  a  pleasing  one.  When  the  rain-torrents  brought  the 
river  down  in  Hood,  as  it  did  about  once  a  day,  the  scene  \\as 
still  more  lively.  The  whole  population,  men,  women,  and 
children,  swarming  out  like  a  disturbed  ants'  nest,  with 
creels,  hampers,  baskets  and  nets,  dashed  in  up  to  the  very 
eyes,  where  the  force  of  the  stream  was  broken  a  little,  to 
scrape  the  bottoms  and  sides  of  the  river  for  the  fish  (which 
have  taken  refuge  there  out  of  the  current),  allowing  them- 
selves the  while  to  be  floated  down  the  stream  for  some  dis- 
tance ;  then,  running  up  stream  again,  shouting  and  laughing, 
they  dashed  in  for  another  and  another  bout.  These  floods 
sometimes  quite  cut  me  off  from  communication  with  the 
opposite  side ;  and  as  my  cooking  was  all  performed  in  the 
villajje,  I  was  constrained  sometimes  to  c:o  dinnerless  to  bed. 
AVhen  a  few  hours'  rain  is  sufficient  to  flood  the  river  so  as  to 
bring  down  fruits,  branches,  large  trees  and  (as  I  saw  on  one 
occasion)  a  broad  slice  of  ground  with  the  bamboos  growing 
on  it,  one  who  has  not  seen  it  can  but  faintly  imagine  the 
volume  and  ])owor  of  such  a  river  after  the  incessant  rain  of 
several  days. 

A  curious  feature  of  this  place  was  the  abrupt  hills  of 
which  I  have  spoken.  Composed  of  calcareous  crystalline 
rocks,  probably  of  Eocene  ago,  they  appear  to  have  been  in 
ancient  times  the  boundaries  of  the  ocean  in  which  was  laid 
down  what  is  now  the  plain  of  Eastern  Sumatra.  The  IVak 
of  the  Kiang,  the  most  abrupt  of  them  all,  is  the  highest  land 
between  itself  and  the  coast,  distant  in  ii  direct  lino  one  \\\\\\- 
d red  and  twenty  miles,  and  commands  a  magnificent  })anorama 
of  a  long  stretch  of  the  Ogan  valley,  running  l)et\veen  deep 
barriers,  the  sun-Hash  on  whose  surface  guided  the  eye  all 


186 


A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


along  its  winding  course  till  it  disappeared  through  a  narrow 
rocky  gateway  into  the  blue  sea-like  plain  of  J-*alembang. 
Below,  fields  of  young  corn,  dotted  with  small  watch-huts 
which  were  so  utterly  embowered  in  Convolvulacem  that  they 
seemed  to  be  simply  immense  bunches  of  yellow  and  purple 
flowers,  covered  the  rich  flats  all  along  both  banks,  and 
might  themselves  have  marked  out  the  course  of  the  river  by 


TATA   BVIiUK-TALAM. 


their  luxuriant  verdure.  The  Pangeran  owned  rice-fields, 
partly  inherited,  partly  purchased,  which  he  informed  me 
were  worth  £20,000.  He  reckoned,  however,  that  his  income, 
from  cotton  and  coffee  and  other  fruits,  but  principally  from 
buftaioes,  was  greater  than  from  his  rice-fields. 

The  houses  of  the  Ogan  people  were  all  richly  carved,  and 
the  ornamentation  is  said  to  be  peculiar  to  their  own  valley. 


TATA   SIMBAR   AJTD   TATA    AAVAN. 


The  Semindo  men  (a  district  lying  about  a  day's  journey 
to  the  west)  are  credited  with  the  invention  of  the  designs ; 
but  the  Palein bangers,  who  are  famous  workers  in  wood,  are 
generally  the  builders,  and  accommodate  each  district  with 
the  style  of  "  tata"  or  ornamentation  peculiar  to  itself,  which 
it  has  retained  for  generations.  The  accompanying  sketches 
will  illustrate  the  designs  most  in  vogue.     On  the  lowermost 


IN  SUMATRA. 


187 


beam,  or  Tailan-luan,  that  resting  on  the  pillars,  we  have  the 
carving  represented  on  page  186,  and  called  tata  huhur-talam ; 
the  second  tigure  represents  the  carving  on  the  Paliatan,  oi 
the  lower  beam  of  the  framework  of  the  house ;  where  the 
tata  simhar  commences  the  designs,  followed  by  the  tata 
aican,  which  either  continues  the 
whole  length  of  the  beam  alter- 
nately revei-sed  till  it  is  closed 
again  by  a  second  tata  simb2r,  or 
both  are  used  throughout  alter- 
nately erect  and  reversed.  The 
interior  of  the  raised  portion  is 
either  left  uncarved  or  is  adorned 
with  the  foliag3  and  flowers,  of 
Avhich  the  outlines  appear  in  the 
design.  This  is  the  Ogan  pattern 
par  exceUence.  On  the  door-posts 
I  found  in  some  houses  tata  ramo^ 

ramo  (ramo  means,  wild  beast)  which  is  not  true  Ogan,  but 
adopted  from  the  Semindo  people,  and  it  is  extremelv  interest- 
ing to  observe  how  effective  an  ornament  has  resulted  from 
the  representation  of  a  tiger  or  some  such  animal,  in  which  the 


TATA.   KAMORAMO. 


eCUINDO   CARVING — TATA    OTAR   GAMOOIA'NG — OX    A    TIOISE 
IN    PEXGANDONAN. 


eye  has  become  a  floral  ornament,  and  the  legs  and  tail  have 
developed  into  scrolls. 

On  the  last  day  of  my  stay  here  I  spent  a  forenoon  with  my 
host  in  seeing  the  sports  still  going  on  at  the  neighbouring 
village  of  Luntar,  which  were  preliminary,  to  a  feast  which 
was  to  close  the  some  twenty  days'  festivities— a  sort  of 
high  pagan  mass  for  tlie  rest  of  the  soul  of  its  Chief's  father. 
In  the  vilhige  was  collected  a  large  crowd  from  surround- 
ing margas  and   even  from  as  far   as   Palembang,  the  scene 


188  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDEBINGS 


resembling  a  village  feeing  fair  at  home.  At  the  outskirts 
we  came  on  small  booths  for  the  sale  of  eatables,  fruits,  and 
sweetmeats ;  but  everywhere  else  each  little  crowd  had  in 
its  nucleus  a  gaming-table  of  some  sort.  First  favourite  was 
a  stall  where  a  mat  spread  on  the  ground  was  marked  off  into 
various  denominations  of  staking,  odd  or  even,  and  on  any 
number  up  to  five.  Its  presiding  genius,  with  a  countenance 
as  stolid  as  the  most  approved  banker  at  a  roulette  table, 
squatted  on  the  ground  with  a  saucer  before  him,  on  which 
he  twirled  the  fatal  teetotum,  and  with  a  most  professional 
air  covered  it  up  with  half  a  cocoa-nut  shell  so  that  it 
might  run  fair.  When  the  "  gentlemen  "  had  all  done  staking, 
he  lifted  the  lid  with  a  flourish,  declared  the  fates,  paid 
his  losses,  and  gathered  in  his  little  pile  of  gains,  without 
moving  a  muscle  of  his  face.  He  was  a  Palem  anger,  this 
sedate  banker,  with  a  sharp  eye  and  a  cruel  expression  of 
countenance,  and,  having  learned  wisdom,  doubtless,  among 
the  comers  and  goers  of  that  great  commercial  centre,  he  had 
come  up  the  water  to  operate  on  the  simple  natives  here.  His 
stall  was  constantly  surrounded  by  an  eager  crowd  of  patrons, 
ranirino:  in  a2:e  from  eight  vears  to  fortv  iiarvests,  who  staked 
with  untiring  zeal  various  sums,  from  the  two-fifths  part  of  a 
penny  up  to  two  or  three  shillings.  Games  of  chance  of  a 
like  nature  were  going  on  in  all  directions ;  but  I  moved  on  to 
witness  the  heroic  sport — the  noble  and  national  game  of  the 
country — Nyabung,  or  cock-fighting. 

The  cock-pit,  or  Galanggan,  was  a  large  enclosure  some 
twenty  feet  square,  railed  in  by  stakes  twelve  to  fourteen  feet 
high,  sufficiently  far  apart  to  enable  those  outside  to  see  all 
that  went  on  within.  The  cocks  about  to  fight  were  handed 
over  to  the  care  of  two  officials,  whose  office  is  to  direct  affairs 
in  the  ring.  By  them  were  attached  with  scrupulous  care  long 
double-edged  steel  spurs,  sharp  as  lances.  As  soon  as  the 
sound  of  the  bedoog  announced  that  this  arena  was  to  be 
occupied  again,  all  other  sports  were  instantly  deserted,  and  the 
crowd  pressed  round  the  Galanggan.  The  cocks  were  brought 
into  the  ring  by  the  proper  officials,  each  holding  his  bird 
carefully  with  its  leg  armatures  sheathed.  Into  this  enclosure 
no  one  but  the  officials,  the  owners,  and  some  favourite  few 
were  admitted.     The  two  cocks  were  then  held  up  before  each 


IN   SUMATRA.  189 


other  by  the  guhings,  who  ruffled  for  them  their  neck  fea- 
thers, tugged  their  combs,  patted  them  on  the  breast  and  sides, 
and  shook  them  with  a  tremulous  sort  of  instigating  motion, 
performed  with  a  knack  and  neatness  which  indicated  the  pro- 
fessional hand.  This  manoeuvre  whose  execution  is  the  envy 
of  onlookers,  is  imitated  by  the  children  in  the  miniature 
cockerel  fights  that  they  get  up  before  they  are  old  enough  to 
speak.  When  the  fowls  had  been  thus  irritated  they  were 
allowed,  while  still  in  the  hand,  to  have  one  dig  at  each  other 
just  to  put  them  on  their  mettle,  and  with  their  terrible 
armatures  bared,  they  were  set  facing  each  other,  a  few  feet 
apart ;  and  then  came  the  charge.  I  shall  never  forget — for  I 
was  utterly  unprepared  for  it  from  the  stolid  Malay — the  yell 
and  deafening  shout  of  savage  delight  and  excitement  that 
arose  from  the  up  to  that  moment  mute  and  eager  but,  to  all 
appearance,  unexcited  crowd  as  the  combatants  rushed  at  each 
other,  and  which  was  kept  up  all  the  time  the  conflict  lasted ; 
nor  how  the  gulangs,  following  on  hands  and  knees,  each  close 
behind  his  fowl,  watched  each  movement  in  silence  with  a 
glaring  and  excited  eye — the  rules  of  the  ring  prohibiting  them 
from  touching  or  reinstigating  the  cock  during  the  continu- 
ance of  a  round — like  nothing  1  can  think  of  so  much  as  the 
intense  motions  of  a  pointer  close  behind  a  warm  scent,  and 
at  every  onset  they  scanned  their  bird  from  side  to  side  to  see 
if  it  had  sustained  any  injury.  In  the  first  combat  that  I 
witnessed  both  cocks  were  badly  wounded  in  the  first  round  ; 
one  even  fainted  away.  The  seconds  and  supporters  carried 
each  their  bird  aside  to  apply  restoratives,  if  possibly  they 
might  be  al)le  to  continue  the  contest  to  a  final  issue.  They 
bathed  its  head  with  cold  water  and  administered  some  with  a 
feather  down  its  throat ;  a  cloth  was  held  over  it  to  keep  oif  the 
sun,  and  smoking  pieces  of  wood  held  under  its  nostrils  and 
over  its  comb.  For  a  time  it  seemed  as  if  the  worst  wounded 
would  have  to  be  declared  vanquished,  as  it  was  unable  to 
enter  the  lists,  but  his  spirit  came  again  on  instigating  him 
with  a  strange  cock  for  a  few  minutes.  After  the  same 
preliminary  patting  and  facing  and  the  solitary  dig,  they 
were  again  allowed  to  rush  at  each  other;  but  after  a  few 
skirmishes  the  badly  wounded  bird  turned  tail  and  was 
declared  the  loser.    In  the  second  of  tlieonly  two  fights  I  ever 


190  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

witnessed  the  combat  was  very  short,  but  very  fierce.  Both 
birds  were  sorely  wounded  at  the  commencement,  but  in  a 
short  space  one  rolled  over  mortally  wounded,  with  a  gash  in 
its  side  through  which  the  four  fingers  could  be  passed.  After 
both  fights  there  was  immediately  heard  the  clinking  of 
money,  and  a  general  rush  to  the  Balai  was  made  to  settle 
their  bets.  Often  £3 J  to  £10  may  be  laid  on  a  cock;  and 
in  a  day's  gaming  as  much  as  £250  has  been  known  to 
change  hands. 

Cock-fighting  is  now  strictly  prohibited  by  the  Govern- 
ment, which,  only  on  special  occasions,  gives  for  a  limited 
number  of  days  permission  to  the  chief  of  a  marga  to  hold  a 
tournament  within  his  district,  and  for  whose  good  conduct 
he  is  responsible.  He  is  allowed  to  charge  five  per  cent,  on  all 
transactions  which  take  place,  and  a  fee  from  all  stall-holders 
as  a  sort  of  recompense  for  directing  the  affair  and  keeping 
order.  With  this  percentage  the  Pangeran  is  able  to  provide 
a  buffalo  at  little  cost  to  himself,  which  is  slain  on  the  last  day 
of  this  Vanity  Fair,  and  followed  by  a  general  gormandising. 
From  the  nature  of  this  whole  entertainment  one  may  hope 
that  the  dead  Pangeran  advance  a  full  stage  in  bliss. 

The  heavy  rains  that  had  delayed  me  several  days  here 
having  cleared  somewhat,  I  proceeded  on  my  way  northwards ; 
and,  crossing  the  watershed  of  the  Ogan,  descended  into 
the  valley  of  the  Inim,  a  large  tributary  of  the  Lamatang, 
another  of  the  great  branches  of  the  Palembang  river.  The 
village  customs  in  each  of  these  great  valley  systems  differ 
but  slightly  from  each  other ;  yet  each  has  some  distinctive 
characteristic ;  each  has  its  own  style  of  architecture ;  and 
each  its  own  pattern  of  garments  and  hat-ornamentation.  In 
religion  the  Inim  people  are  Mahomedans.  They  bury  their 
dead,  however,  in  one  large  mound  with  the  head  east- 
wards ;  the  women  lie  alongside  their  husbands,  but  the  chil- 
dren are  buried  anywhere  their  parents  may  wish,  only  never 
in  the  village  mound. 

It  was  interesting  to  note  how  the  navigability  of  the 
rivers  influence  the  people  even  far  inland.  In  these  reaches 
I  found  Islamism  of  a  purer  form,  and  the  people  more 
learned  in  civilised  ways ;  while  in  the  upland  regions  not 
geographically    distant,   such  as   Ivisam,    ]\rakakau,    Semindo 


IN  SUMATRA.  191 


and  the  Blalau  districts,  which  I  had  just  traversed — high 
plateaus  with  which  communication  is  difficult — the  people 
still  followed  the  pagan  superstitions  of  past  ages,  and  con- 
tinued the  customs  and  rites  of  their  great-great  forefathers 
with  little  change. 

Passino;  throuo-h  the  villajxe  of  Darma,  where  I  noted  with 
curiosity  the  skulls  of  divers  species  of  animals  nailed  to  the 
gable  end  of  a  house,  which  pertained,  I  was  informed,  to  its 
Pangeran's  Tul-ang-hinaiang,  or  gamekeeper — a  fact  I  might 
have  guessed  without  asking  (had  I  imagined  that  Pangerans 
had  among  their  retinue  such  an  official),  since  I  was  myself 
an  inhabitant  of  a  land  where  his  professional  brother  hangs 
out  as  marks  of  his  prowess  a  signboard  just  as  barbarously 
garnished  with  the  bodies  of  owls  and  hawks,  weasels  and 
inoffensive  little  squirrels,  and  every  rare  feathered  bird  that 
visits  his  neighbourhood. 

I  halted  for  the  night  at  Muara  Inim,  a  large  village  at 
the  confluence  of  the  Inim  with  the  Lamatang  and  one  of  the 
important  centres  of  commerce  and  civilisation  in  the  Resi- 
dency. Once  a  week  a  small  steamer  comes  here — 120  miles 
from  the  coast — ^bringing  mails  and  passengers  and  all  the 
merchandise  for  the  north-western  Highlands  of  Palembang. 
It  is  the  starting-point  of  the  main  cross-country  road  to 
Bencoolen  and  Padang,  which  after  crossing  the  Inim  ascends 
the  western  bank  of  the  Lamatano^  throus^h  a  rather  monoto- 
nous  strip  of  country,  which  I  beguiled  by  examining  the  coal 
bands  (of  Pliocene  age)  that  crop  out  at  various  points  in  the 
clayey  marls  on  the  roadside.  Suddenly  turning  the  corner 
near  the  village  of  Merapi,  the  traveller  comes  face  to  face 
with  one  of  the  most  singular  and  pi(;turesque  mountains  of 
(Sumatra — the  Cerillo  Peak — which,  though  high,  is,  owing 
to  the  configuration  of  the  country,  not  seen  till  one  is  close 
at  its  base. 

The  Cerillo  is  a  tall  conical  numntain  on  a  somewhat  nar- 
row base,  rising  irregularly  till  about  800  or  1000  feet  from  its 
summit,  when  it  suddenly  contracts  into  an  inaccessible  acute 
spire,  like  a  gigantic  finger  pointing  heavenward.  I  was  not 
surprised  to  be  told  that  among  an  ignorant  people  its  singular 
shape  had  invested  it  with  superstitious  dread.  The  natives 
make  long  pilgrimages  to  it  to  speak  with  the  Dewa  that  they 


192  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


believe  resides  there,  ascending  to  the  highest  accessible  spot, 
where  incense  is  oifered  and  other  ceremonies  performed. 

A  little  farther  on,  as  I  neared  the  village  of  Lahat,  the  summit 
of  the  volcano  of  the  Dempo  whither  I  was  bound,  raised  its 
head  in  the  distance.  After  resting  for  a  couple  of  days  in  the 
town,  enjoying  the  hospitality  of  Mr.  A"an  Houlen,  the  Kesident 
of  the  district,  I  pressed  on  north-westward.  After  a  journey 
of  a  few  hours  up  the  Lamatang  valley  I  entered,  on  climbing 
out  of  the  gorge  on  to  its  high  bank,  a  landscape  with  en- 
tirely new  features.  I  looked  out  on  what  appeared  to  be  an 
immense  white  sandy  plain,  which  in  reality  was  the  plateau 
of  the  Passumah  Lands,  covered  with  grass,  but  with  scarcely  a 
trace  of  a  tree  anywhere — one  of  the  singular  features  of  this 
region,  and  one  by  no  means  common  in  the  tropics.  It  is  said 
that  fur  at  least  300  years  there  has  been  no  forest  here ;  but 
that  previously,  however,  there  were  trees  which  had  been 
destroyed  by  a  great  fire.  That  a  conflagration  should  have 
burned  up  such  an  immense  tract,  leaving  no  clumps  or  unin- 
jured seeds  of  any  kind  in  the  soil  to  start  a  second  crop  of 
arboreal  vegetation,  seems  very  doubtful.  In  Ceylon  however, 
in  the  midst  of  great  forest  regions,  there  occur  tracts,  marked 
off  with  singular  sharpness  from  the  surrounding  forest,  in 
which  no  trees  are  to  be  found.  Perhaps  the  bareness  of  this 
plateau  may  be  the  result  of  some  such  train  of  circumstances, 
or  perhaps  it  may  owe  its  peculiarity  to  the  effect  of  eruptions 
of  the  overshadowing  volcano,  towards  which  the  plateau  slopes 
gently  upwards. 

At  noon  I  reached  the  first  of  those  singular  gorges  which 
are  another  characteristic  feature  of  the  plateau.  Its  sides 
descended  precipitously  to  the  bed  of  a  small  river  which  was 
running  in  a  narrow  channel  cut  through  the  solid  rock,  on 
which  the  marks  of  the  former  levels  of  its  water  were  plainly 
graved,  and  descended  under  a  narrow  bridge  that  spanned  it 
in  a  series  of  pretty  cascades.  A  few  miles  farther,  on  taking 
a  sharp  turn  of  the  road,  I  suddenly  found  myself  on  the  brink 
of  a  precipice  over  whose  edges  I  could  dizzily  see,  more  than 
500  feet  sheer  below  me,  the  foaming  Endicat  river  spanned 
by  a  picturesque  roofed  bridge.  Till  close  on  the  edge  of  the 
precipice  it  was  impossible  for  the  eye  to  detect  the  slightest 
sign  of  a  gorge ;  it  roamed  over  what  seemed  a  nearly  level 


IN  SUMATRA.  193 


country.  The  descent  and  ascent  were  made  by  long  difficult 
corkscrew  paths  cut  in  the  face  of  cliffs,  that  were  densely 
clothed  with  trees  which  from  the  steepness  of  the  slope 
clung  close  to  its  sides.  On  again  gaining  the  level  of  the 
plateau,  and  looking  back  from  a  little  distance,  the  eye 
ranged  over  the  chasm  without  perceiving  any  trace  of  it. 
This  scenery  recalled  the  descriptions  I  had  read  of  the 
singular  canons  of  the  Yellowstone  River  in  North  America. 
At  frequent  intervals  over  all  the  plateau  I  passed  tabats  or 
lakelets  of  various  sizes,  the  result  j)robably  of  slight  subsi- 
dences of  the  ground  which,  curiously  enougli,  are  full  of  fish, 
though  they  have  often  no  river  running  out  of  them.  The 
same  afternoon  I  reached  Bandar,  and  the  next  day  held  on  to 
the  village  of  Pagar  Alam. 

From  Pagar  Alam  to  my  destination  at  the  little  village  of 
Pau,  lying  3500  feet  above  the  sea  level  on  the  slope  of  the 
Dempo,  where  it  begins  to  raise  its  majestic  mass  more  erectly, 
was  but  a  forenoon's  march.     The  village  of  Pau   was  very 
small,  and  its  Balai  of  minute  dimensions.     Without  an  hour's 
delay,  however,  I  set  about  enlarging  and  rendering  it  habit- 
able.    By  the  combined  efforts  of  the  greater  portion  of  the 
inhabitants  of  two  villages  which  lay  within  a  few  minutes' 
walk,   we  floored  the  place,  railed  off  a  part  for  a  sleeping 
apartment  and  fitted  a  bed  into  it,  furnished  the  outer  portion 
with  a  table  and  a  door,  which  we  made  out  of  that  blessedest 
of  all  the  vegetable  productions  of  a  toolless  and  saw-mill-less 
land,  the  bamboo ;  and  before  night  I  had  unpacked  all  my 
baggage,  books,  and  apparatus,  and  settled  into  my  neat  abode 
with  feelings  of  the  utmost  satisfaction  and  contentment  after 
my   thirty-five    days'  march.     The  village   lay   on  the   road 
leading  to  Bencoolen,  and  as  once  a  week  a  large  market  was 
held  near  Pagar  Alam,  I  had  an  opportunity  of  seeing  not  a 
few  of  the  people  of  the  districts  towards  the  sea-coast,  as 
they  came   often  to  the  markets   in   the  way  of  trade,  and 
often    passed   a   night  in  the  village.      As   a   sort   of  good- 
will exhibition  towards  the  villagers,  and  a  return  for  their 
hospitality  they  would  often  give  a  musical  performance,  or 
engage  in  a  dance.     One  of  the  latter  interested  me  much. 
The  dance  itself  was  very  much  like  the  Lampong  dances, 
calm  and  attitudinal,  but  with  the  addition  of  lighted  tapers. 


194  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

fixed  in  small  saucers  held  in  the  hands.  The  seriousness, 
however,  of  the  performance  was  enlivened  by  the  introduction 
of  a  comical  element.  Closely  imitating  in  an  exaggerated 
manner  all  the  motions  of  the  dancer,  but  affecting  to  keep 
in  his  rear  and  out  of  sight,  was  another  dancer  simulating  the 
fool,  who  was  quite  ignored  as  if  entirely  un perceived  by  the 
principal  performer,  but  at  whose  remarks,  gestures,  and 
grimaces,  all  the  people  laughed  heartily.  Here  we  had  the 
simple  elements  of  the  theatrical  performance — an  embryo 
play  with  two  performers. 

When  one  asks  a  Passumah  man  whence  his  forefathers 
came  in  the  Ttmpo-dalu,  in  the  days  of  yore,  the  reply  is 
often  either  from  Dewa,  or  from  the  sun,  or  from  Alexander 
the  Great  (Sekander  Alam) ;  but  to  most  of  them  the  matter 
is  .shrouded  in  mystery.  Hearinir,  however,  of  a  chief  of 
a  distant  village  specially  learned  in  these  matters,  I  sent 
for  him  to  come  to  visit  me.  He  was  the  son  of  a  very  high 
chief  in  their  independent  days,  and  as  such,  the  history  of 
the  Passumah  Lands  had  been  instilled  into  him  from  a  boy, 
as  part  of  the  education  that  belonged  to  his  rank.  I  found 
him  wonderfully  versed  in  all  the  old  ways  and  customs  of 
the  Passumah  people,  and  my  only  regret  is  that  I  had  not 
then  the  knowledge  on  which  to  found  many  questions  which 
I  should  now  like  to  know  replies  to.  I  wrote  down  from  his 
lips  many  of  their  strange  ceremonial  formulas,  which  are 
difficult  to  find  nowadays  save  inscribed  on  some  old  bamboo 
or  lontar-leaf,  which  may  have  happily  survived  the  ravages  of 
the  boring  beetle  and  the  frequent  village  fires.  Not  the 
least  curious  was  his  account  of  the  creation :  How  different 
sorts  of  birds,  with  curious  but  not  meaningless  names,  pro- 
duced eggs  from  which  in  the  fulness  of  time  escaped  the 
solid  earth  and  the  sky,  the  moon,  the  stars  and  the  sun ;  then 
the  grass  plains  and  the  forests,  the  sandy  shore  and  the  coral ; 
how  the  sky  wept  and  there  came  the  rains  and  the  deep  sea  ; 
how  then  the  Dewas  were,  and  the  hierarchy  of  good  gods  and 
the  company  of  evil  spirits  ;  how  the  Dewas  reproduced  and 
marriage  was  ;  Adam  married  w  ith  Uwo  (Eve  ?),  the  earth 
married  with  the  sky,  and  the  mist  with  the  clouds  and  Allah 
gave  conception  to  all  things. 

The  Passumah  people  are  a  tall  strong  race,  with  well  and 


IN  SUMATRA. 


19i 


intelligently  moulded  faces  ;  the  nose  with  a  rather  prominent 
and  straight  dorsum,  the  eyes  sunk  deeply  in  the  head,  the 
cheek-bones  projecting,  but  without  the  prominent  thick  lips 
so  distinctive  of  the  Malay  face.  They  are  very  independent, 
somewhat  surly  in  heart  and  desperately  lazy  people ;  not 
very  friendly  inclined  to  their  neighbours  in  the  adjoining 
districts.  They  are  by  no  means  dishonest,  and  live  peace- 
fully among  themselves.  Their  children  are  lively  and 
amused  with  little  ;  but  neither  of  their  parents  trouble  them- 
selves much  about  them  after  they  are  old  enough  to  run 
about  by  themselves.  They  were  rather  afraid  to  allow  me  to 
submit  their  length  and  breadth  to  the  test  of  the  measur- 
ing-line,   dreading  lest   the  measure  of  their  bodies    should 


FASSUJIAH    BRACELETS   OP    SILVER,    SHOWING    THE    ORNAMENTATION   DEKIVED 
FKOM    THE    YOUJiG    SHOOTS   OF   THE   BAMBOO. 


bear  some  sinister  relation  to  the  span  of  their  existence. 
After  giving,  however,  the  most  pacifying  assurances,  I  found 
ten  men  and  five  women  bold  enougch  to  risk  the  danger. 
The  average  height  of  the  men  was  5  feet  4"]  5  inches,  the 
length  of  his  arm  11-23  inches,  and  of  his  forearm  to  the  tip 
of  his  longest  finger  2  feet  5'1  inches,  while  in  the  women  the 
corresponding  measurements  were,  5  feet  0  75  inches  in  stature, 
11*35  inches  in  length  of  arm,  and  2  feet  3-85  inches  of 
fore.irm.  The  tallest  man  was  5  feet  8-25  inches,  and  the  most 
herculean  of  the  women  5  feet  2*75  inches. 

The  men  dress  as  in  other  districts.  The  women,  especially 
the  maidens,  are  strong,  well  proportioned  and  well  developed  ; 
many  of  them  are  very  good-looking,  having,  what  is  rare  among 


196  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

the  Malay  races,  characteristically  marked  red  cheeks.  They 
wear  usually  only  one  garment,  a  loin-cloth  fastened  below  the 
breasts  and  reaching  to  the  middle  of  the  thigh.  Their  arms  are 
decked  from  the  wrist  to  the  elbow  with  tiers  of  silver  bracelets, 
and  the  lower  joint  of  every  finger  with  as  many  rings  as  it 
can  hold,  but  they  did  not  exhibit  any  delicate  ideas  about 
spoiling  their  lustre,  and,  notwithstanding  the  incongruity 
of  the  combination,  I  have  often  seen  them  grubbing  up  roots 
with  their  jewelled  fingers,  and  filling  baskets  with  earth  to 
the  clang  of  their  bracelets. 

Marriage  between  members  of  the  same  village  or  village 
cluster  is  prohibited  among  the  Passu mah  people  ;  in  some 
districts  even  those  of  the  same  marga  are  within  the  bonds  of 
consanguinity  recognised  by  them.  The  two  forms  already 
described  at  page  151  as  practised  in  the  Lampongs  I  found 
existing  here  also :  the  one  by  simple  purchase  ;  the  other 
(ambil-anak)  by  which  the  father  of  the  bride  adopts  his  son- 
in-law  into  his  family,  more  as  a  slave,  however,  than  as  a 
son.*  The  position  of  the  man  married  by  the  latter  arrange- 
ment recalls  in  his  utter  subserviency  to  the  woman — her 
property  never  passing  to  him  as  long  as  the  marriage  bond 
remains,  and  his  children  always  hers — the  insignificant  and 
pitiable  position  of  the  paterfamilias  among  the  Egyptians 
under  the  Ptolemies,  in  vv'hich  "  the  woman  owned  all  and 
ruled  all ;  the  man  was  a  helpless  dependant.  As  a  child  he 
was  the  property  of  his  mother  and  as  a  married  man  the 
pensioner  of  his  wife."  f 

On  the  day  of  the  marriage  the  youth  and  his  bride  come 
before  the  Head  of  the  village,  who  is  as  it  were  both  king  and 
priest.  After  offering  to  the  Dewa  incense  of  benzoin,  and 
sprinkling  over  them  rice  yellowed  with  curcuma  powder,  ho 
reads  what  may  in  truth  be  called  their  marriagie  service,  a 
long  and  singular  formula  of  great  interest,  called  "  Sawe 
berduudim,"  which  I  had  the  good  fortune  to  obtain  a  copy  of 
in   the  rentjong   character   inscribed  on  a  bamboo.      It   is  a 

*  This  is  really  a  remnant  of  the  ancient  Matriarchal  System,  in  whicii 
desceiir.  t(jlio\V('d  in  the  tVmale  line.  Consult  "Over  de  Verwautschap  en  het 
Huwelijkseu  Perfect  nij  de  Vol  ken  van  d-n  Indischeu  Archipel,"  by  G.  A. 
Wilkin,  niso  Midden  yumatra,  by  P  of.  P.  J.  Veth, 

t  The  Times:  "Buaed  Treasare"— Jan.  18rf2. 


IN  SUMATBA.  197 


sort  of  invocation  to  all  their  pagan  pantheon,  among  whom 
one  is  invoked  as  dwelling  within  the  Nine  Mists,  to  bestow 
their  blessing  on  the  union. 

Another  of  their  curious  customs  I  saw  performed  during 
my  stay  in  the  village.  It  happened  that  a  young  girl  had 
fallen  clandestinely  with  child  (an  oflence  of  great  magni- 
tude among  them)  whose  father  it  was  incumbent  on  the 
chief  of  the  village  to  discover  and  report  to  the  chief  of  his 
marga.  A  court,  consisting  of  these  two  officials  with  the 
chiefs  of  the  two  neighbouring  villages,  was  consequently 
called  together  in  the  Balai  in  which  I  was  staying.  The 
girl  was  summoned  to  appear,  and,  accompanied  by  her 
mother,  she  took  her  place  on  a  mat  before  the  chiefs. 
The  head  of  her  village,  having  seated  himself  on  the  ground, 
prostrated  himself  before  a  little  incense-holder  of  burning 
benzoin,  and  chanted  an  invocation  to  various  of  their  deities, 
concluding  with — "  Ye  Beings  who  regulate  the  universe, 
make  it  clear  whose  is  the  fault."  Then,  in  the  midst  of  dead 
silence,  he  scattered  over  ihe  girl  some  handfuls  of  yellowed 
rice-grains,  and  demanded  the  name  of  the  partner  of  her 
crime.  She  replied,  giving  the  name  of  some  one  in  a 
distant  village,  and,  being  warned  to  speak  the  truth,  she 
declared  :  "  Banish  me  if  you  will,  hang  me  if  you  will,  kill 
me  if  you  will,  I  can  say  no  other — that  is  the  truth."  This 
finished  the  inquisition.  Next  morning  a  commission  consist- 
ing of  the  chiefs  who  had  formed  the  court  with  several  armed 
villagers,  set  out,  accomj)anied  by  the  girl,  to  bring  her 
charge  against  the  village  whose  member  had  brought  dis- 
grace on  theirs.  If  the  person  named  by  the  girl  should  on 
his  oath  deny  the  charge,  the  case  nowadays  is  carried  before 
the  magistrate  of  the  district.  In  other  days  it  was  referred 
to  the  arbitrament  of  war  or  of  the  Dewa,  who  would  certainly 
afflict  the  perjurer  or  his  (or  her)  village  ;  but,  for  the  purifi- 
cation of  the  disgrac(>d  Kampong,  Ihe  deity  had  to  be  invoked 
over  a  sacrificed  bufl'alo.  The  woman  would  secretly  as  her 
time  approached  disappear  from  the  village ;  and  when,  after  a 
space,  she  returned  she  would  come  alone.  If  the  person 
named  by  the  girl  accepted  the  charge,  as  he  did  in  this 
case,  and  was  willing  by  either  of  the  modes  of  marriage 
practised  among  them  to  make  her  his  wife,  both  villages, 


198  A    NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


as  well  as  the  Devva,  are  supposed  on  his  paying  a  small  fine 
to  be  satisfied. 

The  people  of  the  Passumah  are  pagans ;  but  their  pagan- 
ism is  throughout  tinged  in  form  and  utterance  with  Maho- 
medanisra,  which  in  former  times  may  have  spread  to  a 
slight  extent  among  them.  They  have  no  priests.  They 
believe  in  Dewas,  who  inhabit  the  volcanoes  and  the  deep 
forests,  and  also  in  the  avenging  power  of  the  spirits  of  their 
forefathers  if  they  transgress  the  old  customs  set  by  them. 
In  times  of  difficulty  and  perplexity  they  ascend  to  the  margin 
of  the  crater,  and  in  the  cold  of  that  elevated  spot  they  pass 
one  or  more  nights ;  and  once  in  every  three  years  a  company 
from  the  villages  repairs  to  burn  incense,  and  sacrifice  to  the 
Dewa  some  animal  on  the  Sawah  (as  they  name  a  spot  just 
below  the  present  cone),  which  must  have  been  the  floor  of 
an  old  crater  before  the  upheaval  of  the  present  one.  They 
believe  in  the  power  of  forms  of  words,  and  in  the  posses- 
sion of  spells.  When  a  youth  goes  away  on  a  journey  he 
leaves  with  the  object  of  his  affections  an  inscribed  bamboo, 
which  she  daily  reads  (if  she  is  able  to  do  so),  to  secure  his 
fidelity  to  her  and  success  in  his  undertaking  ;  she  then  drinks 
a  draught  of  water  from  it,  so  that  the  spell  may  amalgamate 
with  her  own  self.  In  the  roofs  of  their  houses  they  secrete 
bamboos  with  various  inscriptions  to  ward  off  sickness,  and  to 
cure  it  when  it  enters  the  dwelling.  The  surat  hantal,  a 
prayer  inscribed  on  blades  of  bamboo,  placed  below  the  pillow, 
w  ill  insure  for  a  mother  safe  delivery  ;  and,  when  her  infant  will 
not  cease  crying,  the  repeating  of  its  contents  will  still  it. 
When  an  aged  person  is  very  sick,  and  cannot  possibly  recover, 
but  yet  lingers  long  at  the  threshold  of  death,  they  possess 
another  formula,  whose  reading  will  release  the  dying  spirit 
in  peace. 

The  place  they  hold  in  most  reverence  is  the  grave  of  the 
NenePoyang,  or  stem  father  of  the  Passumah,  over  which  their 
most  binding  oaths  are  taken;  to  perjure  themselves  on  it 
would  be  equal  to  sealing  their  doom.  If  there  be  a  dispute 
between  two  people  of  the  same  or  of  different  villages,  both 
retire,  accompanied  by  their  resper-tive  chiefs,  to  this  sacred  spot, 
where  a  fowl  or  a  sheep  or  a  buffalo,  according  to  the  gravity 
of  the  affair,  is  killed,  which  after  being  cut  up  into  small  pieces, 


IN  SUMATRA.  199 


is  cooked  in  a  great  pot.  Then  be  wlio  is  to  take  the  oath 
holding  his  hand,  or  a  long  kriss  of  the  finest  sort,  over  the  grave- 
stone and  over  the  cooked  animal,  says  :  "  If  such  and  such  be 
not  the  case,  may  I  be  afflicted  with  the  worst  evils."  The  whole 
of  the  company  then  partake  of  the  food.  If  the  man  has  sworn 
falsely  they  believe  that  in  a  short  time  after  he  will  be  seized 
with  some  dire  sickness,  and  will  die ;  if  he  plants  his  fields 
they  will  not  grow,  or  will  produce  barren  stems  ;  but  not  only 
will  he  himself  be  crushed  by  misfortune,  but,  in  an  affair  of 
magnitude,  all  who  were  of  his  village  who  ate  of  the  feast,  if 
not  the  village  also,  will  be  overtaken  by  disaster.  The  people 
of  Passumah  Ulu  Manna,  which  lies  between  the  broad 
Passumah  and  the  town  of  Manna  on  the  sea-coast,  have  the 
same  origin  as  those  of  the  broad  Passumah,  and  consequently 
their  most  solemn  oath  must  be  taken  over  the  same  grave. 
Now  where  a  cause  is  before  the  magistrate,  and  it  is  necessary  to 
swear  a  witness,  it  costs  a  journey  of  some  twenty  days.  There 
has  been  brought,  however,  I  am  told,  a  stone  from  the  grave  of 
their  ancestor  to  the  court  of  the  magistrate,  which  the  people 
respect  and  swear  over.  One  can  perceive  that  ere  long  the  oath 
of  the  district  may  be  sworn  over  any  stone,  and  in  time  to 
come  it  may  be  forgotten  ivhy  they  swear  over  a  stone  at  all. 

When  a  man  dies  his  body  is  brought  into  the  Balai  and  there 
laid  out  by  the  head  man  of  the  village,  with  various  ceremo- 
nial observances,  accompanied  by  a  certain  form  of  words, 
differing  with,  and  appropriate  to,  each  act,  their  ritual  for 
the  dead.  Having  wound  a  cord  about  the  body,  he  takes  the 
dead  man's  head  between  his  hands,  and  rolls  it  gently  from 
side  to  side  ;  the  teeth  are  rubbed  with  a  piece  of  sapotaceous 
wood ;  the  tongue  is  pulled  forward  and  touched  with  it,  the 
nostrils  and  the  ears  also;  the  eyelid  is  raised  to  permit  a 
last  look ;  the  arm  is  rotated  by  turning  the  forefinger ;  each 
toe  and  finger  is  flexed  ;  the  nails  are  gently  scraped  ;  the 
juice  of  a  lemon  is  squeezed  over  the  body,  which  is  finally 
sprinkled  with  water  and  wrapped  in  white  cloth.  The  dead 
are  buried  without  the  village  in  a  square  plot — men,  women, 
and  children  side  by  side,  or  they  are  placed  in  some  unre- 
membered  spot  quite  in  the  wilderness.  "  Are  they  not  dead  ? 
That  is  the  end  of  tlicm,  and  what  is  the  good  of  knowing 
more  about  them." 


200 


A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


On  inquiring  where  the  dead  go,  I  received  the  following 
answer :  "  We  Ulu  men  (living  near  the  sources  of  the  rivers) 
do  not  follow  the  custom  of  the  sea-coast  people.  They  say 
that  when  their  people  die  they  go  to  a  great  field,  flat  and 
without  any  trees,  on  which  the  hot  sun  pours  day  and  night. 
There  they  have  to  remain  day  and  night,  roasting  {pangang), 
for  a  long,  long  time,  reading  day  and  night  the  Koran.  After 
a  time  Allah  comes  along  with  a  great  umbrella  over  him, 
attended  by  a  large  company.  Those  that  have  learned  best 
he  calls  to  walk  with  him  in  the  shade  of  his  umbrella ;  those 


MONOLITH    AT   TANGERWANGI  ;     PASSUMAH   LANDS. 


that  have  failed  to  learn  all  that  they  ought  are  beaten  up 
in  a  great  mortar,  and  sent  back  somewhere  on  earth,  whence 
after  a  trial  they  are  again  transported  to  the  baking  field, 
where  a  time  is  allowed  to  them  to  perfect  themselves,  when, 
if  they  have  made  proper  use  of  their  opportunities  they  are 
at  last  called  under  the  great  shade ;  but  if,  after  all  these 
trials,  they  have  failed  to  learn,  they  are  beaten  to  dust  in 
the  mortar  and  blown  away.  We  Ulu  men  do  not  know  if 
this  is  so  or  not,  and  we  wonder  how  they  know,  for  we  have 
never  heard  of  any  one  who  has  come  back  to  tell  them.     We 


IN  SUMATRA. 


201 


Ulu  men  do  not  know  whither  we  go,  but  the  breath  that 
goes  out  of  the  mouth  is  lost  two  arms'  length  away,  and  we 
believe  that  we  mix  with  the  wind  and  follow  it  wherever  it 
goes;  and  our  bodies  certainly  rot  away." 

Some  of  the  most  interesting  objects  in  the  Passumah  Lands 
are  the  sculptured  figures  found  in  so  many  parts  of  it.  The 
greater  number  of  these  are  so  broken  and  defaced  that  no 
satisfactory  result  can  come  from  their  examination.  They 
have  been  ascribed  to  Hindoo  origin  by  at  least  one  w-riter. 


MONOLITH    DISINTERRED   BY   THE   AVTIIOU   AT   TAXGEl.WAXGI. 


Hearing  that  tliere  existed  two  of  these  "men  turned  to  stone  " 
at  Tangerwangi  not  far  from  my  camp,  I  paid  them  a  visit. 
I  found  them  to  be  immense  blocks  of  stone,  in  excellent 
preservation,  wliicli  could  certainly  never  have  been  seen  by 
the  writer  to  whom  I  refer.  They  are  carved  into  a  likeness 
of  the  human  figure,  in  a  posture  between  sitting  and  kneeling, 
but  which  it  is  not  quite  easy  to  make  out  from  tlie  way  in 
wliich  the  stones  are  lying.  Besides  the  two  of  whicli  I  hail 
heard,  I  discovered  by  clearing  the  forest,  first  a  third  and  then 


202 


A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


a  fourth,  both  prostrate  on  the  ground  in  such  a  way  as  to  in- 
dicate that  they  probably  fell  from  the  result  of  earthquakes ; 
or  by  stones  ejected  from  the  volcano  at  whose  base  they  had 
stood.  Each  figure  has  a  groove  down  the  back  and  they 
had  apparently  stood  on  a  flat  pedestal,  with  their  backs 
towards  one  centre,  with  their  faces  more  or  less  accurately 
to  the  cardinal  points  of  the  compass.  The  features  of  all  four 
are  of  the  same  type  of  countenance  ;  but  the  race  now  living 


\     -7/.  '^  , 


SIDE   VIEW    OF   THE    FACE   ON   ONE   OF   THE   MONOLITHS. 


in  this  region  did  not  form  that  model,  and  it  is  equally 
beyond  question  that  the  Hindoo  features  are  not  represented. 
It  is  not  certain  that  the  Hindoos,  who,  as  it  is  well  known, 
settled  in  some  parts  of  Sumatra  at  the  time  of  their  great  oc- 
cupation of  Java  about  1000  B.C.  ever  were  in  the  Passumah 
lands  ;  but  if  they  ever  were,  there  is  no  reason  for  suppos- 
ing that  they  should  depart  from  their  wont  in  Java  and  else- 
where, and  figure  in  their  sculptures  the  lineaments  of  another 
race   than   their  own.     If  these  stones   are  not  the   work  of 


IX  SUMATRA,  203 


the  Hindoos,  they  must  have  been  carved  by  either  the  then 
people  of  the  district  or  by  foreign  sculptors.  If  by  Passu- 
mahers,  did  they  depict  their  own  features  or  those  of  another 
race  ?  But  who  these  former  inhabitants  of  the  Passumah 
were,  whence  these  foreign  artificers  came,  and  for  what  these 
sculptures  were  used,  is  shrouded  in  deep  mystery.  It  is  quite 
certain  also  that  the  present  inhabitants  could  not  conceive, 
much  less  execute,  such  works  of  art. 

The  postures  are  peculiar  ;  the  figures  have  the  appearance 
of  persons  bound,  bearing  burdens  on  their  backs.  The  ringing 
on  the  arms,  which  the  natives  call  bracelets,  must  be  taken, 
I  think,  to  represent  cords,  as  the  same  marks  occur  also  below 
the  shoulder,  where  it  is  not  the  custom  of  the  Passumahers  to 
wear  armlets.  The  eyes  are  immense  and  protruding  to  a  great 
degree,  lending  weight  to  this  idea.  The  sex  of  the  persons 
represented  is  also  doubtful.  There  is  almost  no  tradition 
respecting  them,  beyond  that  they  are  the  handiwork  of  Sarung 
Sakti  and  Lidah  Pait  (Bitter  Tongue),  who,  wandering  about  the 
country,  turned  all  who  displeased  them  into  stone  :  or  that  they 
represent  the  people  who  in  the  far,  itir  back  time  used  to  inhabit 
this  land,  and  who  possessed  tails,  which  the  renowned  ancestor 
of  the  Passumah  people,  Atum  Bungsu,  cut  off.  Near  Pagar 
Alam,  I  saw  also  two  stones,  but  quite  of  a  different  kind  of  ■ 
sculpture  ;  one  was  the  representation  of  a  woman  sitting  in 
native  fashion,  with  an  infant  on  her  hip  in  the  w-ay  that  their 
children  are  generally  carried  about.  Both  hands  support 
the  breasts,  which  are  apparently  turgid.  Her  features  might 
represent  a  Passumah  woman.  The  other,  distant  a  few  yards 
only,  is  a  spirited  sculpture  representing  two  children  attacked 
by  a  python.  The  reptile  is  coiled  about  the  children,  one  of 
whom  has  fallen,  while  its  head  is  partly  in  its  mouth.  The 
action  of  the  smaller  boy,  in  thrusting  off  the  snake  with 
all  his  strength,  is  natural  and  well  designed,  though  some- 
what wanting  in  execution.  These  stones  differ  in  character 
so  much  from  the  others  at  Tangerwangi,  and  have  besides  so 
little  relation  one  to  another,  that  it  is  impossible  to  conceive 
for  what  purpose  they  can  have  been  made.  The  only  con- 
clusion is  that  a  superior  race,  possessing  considerable  know- 
ledge and  refined  taste,  and  with  technical  skill  not  possessed 
by  the  natives  of  any  part  of  the  island  at  present  occupied 


204  A   NATURALISTS    WANDERINGS 

this  region ;  but  who  they  were  and  when  they  dwelt  here  is 
absolutely  shrouded  in  oblivion. 

During  my  stay  in  the  Passumah  lands,  the  news  that  I  was 
an  Englishman  spread  far,  and  I  was  several  times  visited  by 
people  from  the  Passumah  Ulu  Manna  district,  which  about 
the  year  1820  was  under  the  rule  of  the  English,  having  been 
annexed  to  the  East  India  Company's  dominions  when  Sir 
Stamford  Raffles  held  the  Lieutenant-Governorship  of  Ben- 
coolen.  The  original  document,  formally  recognising  them  as 
"subjects  of  the  Honourable  Company,  and  entitled  to  all  the 
privileges  of  that  condition,"  was  brought  to  me  by  the  grandson 
of  one  of  the  chiefs  with  whom  the  treaty  was  then  concluded, 
carefully  preserved  in  a  bamboo  case.  He  had  heard,  he  said,  that 
I  was  English,  and  he  had  come  several  days'  journey  to  see 
me,  for  he  had  heard  both  his  grandfather  and  his  father 
tell  of  the  greatness  of  the  "  orang  Ingris."  It  was  at  least 
flattering  to  one's  national  pride  to  find  how  deep  a  hold 
their  rule  had  taken  on  the  gratitude  of  the  people,  when 
those  of  the  third  generation  had  come  to  extol  to  one  of  their 
countrymen  their  merciful  and  just  government,  and  with 
wonderful,  and  of  course  exaggerated,  tales  of  their  liberality 
and  of  the  profuseness,  richness,  and  grandeur  of  the  Gover- 
nor's court.  One  old  fellow  came  arrayed  in  one  of  his  most 
precious  heirlooms,  the  English-made  coat,  of  his  grandfather, 
of  a  purplish  serge  with  steel-ring  epaulets  and  with  a  curved 
sabre  bearing  King  George's  monogram  worked  on  the  handle. 
He  sadly  bemoaned  that  the  present  Government  had  not  con- 
tinued to  him  the  chieftainship  of  his  father's  marga,  and  with 
the  present  Passirahs  it  was  evidently  a  sore  matter  that  they 
received  no  pay  from  the  Government,  when  under  the  English 
rule  they  received  seventy -five  rupees  a  month  (£75  sterling  a 
year),  a  great  sum  to  these  people.  I  was  very  amused  by  the  way 
one  Passirah  showed  me  his  official  dress.  The  "  Company," 
that  is,  the  present  government,  for  the  designation  still  con- 
tinues— "The  Company  gives  me  #/r/s  "  ('this'  with  a  most 
contemptuous  curl  of  the  lips),  as  he  exhibited  his  own  alongside 
the  English  uniform  of  his  companion  (the  costume  did  not 
really  deserve  such  a  curl)  ;  "  and  I  have  to  pay  five  rupees  for 
this"  (a  narrow  gold  band  on  the  right  arm),  "and  five  rupees 
for  this  "  (its  fellow  on  the  left),  "  and  five  for  this  '  ((jn  the 


IN  SUMATRA.  205 


neck).  "  The  Ingris  gave  a  costume  like  that,  with  a  sword 
and  seventy-five  rupees  a  month  besides  !  "  They  were  always 
anxious  to  learn  from  me  when  the  English  were  coming  back 
again.  I  dare  say  that  if  the  English  were  back,  they  would 
possibly  sigh  for  the  return  of  the  Dutch,  their  sup23osed  grie- 
vances against  the  dominion  for  the  time  present  doubtless 
being  always  sorest.  It  is  not  all  lip  praise,  however ;  there 
exists  throughout  the  country  a  real  belief  in  the  absolute 
justice  in  word  and  deed  of  the  English  people  and  of  the 
surpassing  greatness  of  their  nation.  All  the  documents  which 
they  showed  me  that  were  given  by  Raffles  to  their  fathers  had 
invariably  lost  their  wax  seals,  and,  on  asking  what  had  become 
of  them,  the  unfailing  reply  was : — '*  We  have  eaten  them." 
Each  document  they  believed  was  the  token  of  rights  and 
privileges  whicii  could  never  be  revoked,  but  which  would  one 
day,  though  at  present  in  abeyance,  come  again  to  them ;  and 
as  the  seal  in  their  estimation  is  the  most  effectual  and  the 
potentest  part  of  a  Deed,  they  had  eaten  it ;  and  somehow, 
should  the  writing  itself  get  lost,  the  seal  at  any  rate  had 
become  part  of  themselves  and  its  potency  would  descend  to 
their  heirs. 
15 


206  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


CHAPTER  VI. 

SOJOURN   IN    THE    TOLEMBANG    EESIDENCY — Continued. 

PassiUTiah  Lands  (contd.) — The  Volcano  of  the  Dempo — Its  flora  an  1  fauna — 
The  crater — Spectre  of  the  Broeken — The  view  from  the  summit — ^Leavo 
for  the  Kaba  Volcano — Gunung  Meraksa- — River  journey  on  a  raft — 
Lampar  —  Fmd  again  the  spider  Ornitlwscato'ides  decipiens- — Batu- 
pantjeh — A  marriage  scene — Games  of  the  boys — ^Houses — Tcbbing- 
Tinggi — Tandjong-ning — Great  trees — My  party  attacked  by  a  tiger — 
Its  wilincss — Its  capture — Graveyard. 

The  chief  object  of  interest  in  the  Passumah  Lands  is  its 
volcano — the  Dempo.  Almost  daily  I  explored  some  part  of 
its  vast  extent,  and  when  I  left  I  could  have  profitably  spent 
months  more  without  exhausting  its  treasures.  The  village  of 
Pau,  in  which  I  had  my  quarters,  was  3500  feet  above  the  sea. 
The  first  few  hundred  feet  of  the  flanks  of  the  mountain  were 
appropriated  by  the  villagers  for  their  coffee  gardens,  and  the 
few  fields  in  which  they  now  cultivate  rice  and  roots.  The 
coffee-trees,  despite  their  being  densely  crowded,  yielded  large 
crops  of  a  very  superior  kind  of  fruit ;  above  these  cultivated 
fields  ran  a  broad  belt  of  low  forest  consisting  of  a  shrubbery  of 
Fluggea  microcarpa  and  the  usual  broad-leaved  scitamineous 
plants,  in  whose  damp  shade  balsams  and  white-flowered  Ges- 
neracese  and  hairy-leaved  Begonias  flourished.  About  4000  feet 
began  the  virgin  forest,  which  for  2000  feet  upwards  displayed 
unrivalled  luxuriance,  under  which  grew  a  tangled  mass  of 
shrubs  and  thorny  climbers.  Crashing  through  these,  I  one 
day  nearly  trampled  on  a  fine  new  species  of  that  curious 
family,  the  Raflesiacese ;  it  smelt  powerfully  of  putrid  flesh, 
and  was  infested  with  a  crowd  of  flies,  which  followed  me  all 
the  way  as  I  carried  it  home,  and  was  besides  overrun  with 
ants,  notwithstanding  the  long  hairs  which  protected  its  centre. 
In  the  deep  shade  at  this  elevation  few  flowers  except  from 
the  climbers  and  epiphytes  on  the  trees,  such  as  many  species 
of  Melastoma  oftener  more  rich  in  colour  of  fruit  than  of  flower, 


IN  SUMATRA.  207 


scarlet  Mschynanthes,  and  occasionally  a  gorgeous  asclepiad. 
The  varied  forms  and  colours  of  the  foliage,  however,  greatly 
relieved  the  general  want  of  flowers.  From  the  broad  leaves 
of  the  Ginger  family  and  the  tangled  thickets  of  palms,  to 
the  graceful  fronds  oi  Ahopliila,  Cya^Aea  and  creeping  DavalUa, 
to  the  pandans  and  aroids  which  embrace  the  tree  trunks  and 
clothe  the  leafless  coils  of  the  lianes,  there  is  a  perpetual  and 
refreshing  variety.  Here  I  found  a  curious  sjiecies  of  Ficus, 
whose  long  stem-branches  penetrated  underground,  where  the 
figs  were  produced  with  their  orifices  only  above  the  surface. 

Nothing  could  be  finer  than  many  of  the  crowns  of  flowers 
of  the  giant  trees  that  I  was  constantly  felling.  One  of  these, 
a  species  of  Styrax  (S.  subpaniculatum),  was  a  mass  of  blossom 
which  scented  the  region  of  the  mountain  for  days  after  I  felled 
it,  and  often  beguiled  me  aside  to  admire  even  its  fading  beauty. 

At  4800  feet  I  gathered  the  first  ericaceous  plants,  as 
climbing  shrubs  on  the  tops  of  the  highest  trees  ;  and  some  500 
feet  higher  the  ground  v/as  strewed  wdth  great  blossoms  four 
to  fiv'e  inches  in  diameter,  from  the  Gordonia  exeelsa,  a  giant  of 
the  TernstrcBinaceee,  or  Tea  family.  At  GOOO  feet  the  region  of 
troublesome  and  irritating  rattans  and  of  Pijcliosperma  palms 
was  passed,  and  I  entered  a  forest  of  more  slender  trees, 
witli  still  many  grand  fern-loaded  specimens  among  them, 
especially  belonging  to  the  Myrtle  family  as  their  fallen 
corollas  indicated.  At  7000  feet,  near  the  half-way  camp 
I  had  erected,  a  patch  of  tall  Pandan  trees  occurred  on  the 
sides  of  a  gorge,  but  nowhere  else  on  the  mountain.  Here, 
flitting  over  the  fallen  logs,  I  stalked  a  pretty  little  brown 
hill-wren  {Pnoepi/ga  pusilla),  which  started  on  the  slightest 
motion  into  a  hole  or  crevice,  and  when  at  last  wounded  it 
took  refuge  in  a  burrow  two  yards  long,  whence  it  had  to  be 
dug  out.  This  species  was  known  before  only  from  the 
Himalayas  and  Tenasserim  till  it  was  discovered  in  this  island 
on  the  Padang  mountains  by  Dr.  Beccari  ;  but  my  Dempo 
specimen  was  the  first  that  had  been  seen  in  England. 
Besides  herds  of  elephants,  an  occasional  Siamang,  and 
many  tigers,  mammalian  life  did  show  itself  on  the  mountain. 
The  long  grey-beard  lichens  now  covering  the  trees  were  an 
indicatiim  of  the  dampness  of  the  atmosphere.  Here  a  red- 
stemmed  Begonia  grew  in  the  utmost  luxuriance,  intermingling 


208  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

with  a  white  species  of  honeysuckle  (much  visited  by  a  fine 
grey-haired  humble-bee  [Bomhus  senex)),  and  which  together 
formed  a  white  flower-dotted  field  that  accompanied  us  for  more 
than  700  feet  of  ascent.  At  7700  feet  there  was  a  marked 
decrease  in  the  amount  of  flowers  and  fruit  that  the  half-tree, 
half-shrub  vegetation  produced,  whose  foliage,  I  remarked, 
was  of  a  more  or  less  crisp  and  brittle  texture.  At  8000  feet 
my  eyes  were  gladdened  by  the  sight  of  a  most  lovely  orchid 
epiphytic  on  the  trees,  which  is  apparently  the  true  Dendrohium 
secundum;*  its  colour,  which  could  not  fail  to  catch  the  eye 
of  the  most  unobservant,  was  of  the  deepest  purple  or  mauve- 
pink,  and  its  bells,  suspended  by  a  double-curved  petiole  of 
a  graceful  form,  hung  in  clusters  of  twelve  to  fourteen  from 
the  tip  of  the  stems.  It  is  impossible  of  course  to  describe 
the  colour,  but  it  was  of  the  richest  tint;  the  whole  flower 
was  of  the  same  colour,  save  one  bright  orange  spot  in  the 
throat  of  the  labellum.  For  200  feet  upwards  the  trees  were 
profusely  spangled  with  them,  and  it  was  really  worth  an 
arduous  climb  to  see  and  to  gather  them.  It  is  surprising 
to  how  limited  an  area  some  plants  are  confined.  I  could 
find  no  specimens  of  this  orchid  above  the  narrow  zone  I 
have  mentioned.  At  8200  feet  I  first  gathered  the  beautiful 
Hasp  (Ruhus  lineatus),  which.  I  obtained  on  the  Malawar  moun- 
tains in  Java  at  a  considerably  lower  elevation.  On  the 
Java  mountains,  from  C500  to  7000  feet,  the  abundance  of 
various  kinds  of  Rasps  formed  a  marked  feature  in  the 
vegetation ;  here  I  was  struck  by  their  almost  entire  absence. 
On  the  Tengamus  in  the  Lampongs  at  the  same  height  I  had 
met  with  no  end  of  Nepenthacem,  and  with  a  beautiful  orchid 
of  the  genus  Cijmhidium,  but  here  neither  the  one  nor  the 
other  was  seen ;  one  small  scrap  of  a  pitcher  was  indeed 
brought  to  me  from  about  6500  feet,  but,  though  I  myself  and 
my  hunters  searched  everywhere,  we  could  find  no  more. 
Here  and  there  I  now  found  small-leaved  scraggy  shrubs  of  a 
species  of  Rhododendron  (R.  magnifiorum)  bearing  bright  scarlet 
flowers,  and  every  further  foot  of  ascent  brought  us  among 
dwarfed  trees,  and  leaner  and  more  scraggy  shrubs,  while  the 
moss  on  stone  and  stem  grew  deeper  and  deeper.     At  8600 

*  Not  the  Dendroblum  secundum  of  the  horticulturists,  but  a  different  aud 
far  finer  species. 


7.V  SUMATRA.  209 


feet  I  suddenly  emerged  on  the  edge  of  one  of  the  many 
gorges  which  deeply  grooved  the  side  of  the  mountain,  and 
stood  clear  of  the  tall  forest. 

During  my  progress  through  the  lower  zones  few  insects, 
but  some  very  interesting  forms  of  birds,  had  been  noticed. 
Besides  the  species  I  have  mentioned  above,  I  shot  a  rare 
grass  warbler  {Smja  albigularis),  previously  known  only  from 
Sumatra,  by  one  example  from  Acheen,  in  the  north  of  the 
island  ;  and  twittering  in  low  bushes  a  little  fly-catcher,  not 
before  taken  in  this  island — Cidicieapa  ceijlonensis.  At 
5000  feet,  hopping  about  on  fallen  logs,  dodging  in  the  low 
bush  tangle,  a  black  chat-thrush  (Brachypterux  atratus)  vrith 
a  bright  white  line  over  the  eye,  fell  to  my  gun,  which  was 
not  my  luck  in  regard  to  the  beautiful  Paradise  fly-catcher 
{Terpsyplione  affinis)  which  I  saw — a  pure  white  bird  with 
long  black-shatted  tail-feathers,  named  by  the  natives  Tjabit 
Kapan  which  signifies  the  white  cloth  in  which  the  dead  are 
wrapped,  as  they  believe  that  he  by  whom  it  is  seen  has  not 
long  to  live. 

At  8G00  feet  the  tall  forest  suddenly  ceased,  and  among  my 
feet  I  found  some  splended  ericas  of  various  species,  the  most 
conspicuous  being  that  which  the  natives  have  named  "Tree 
of  the  long  age"  {Kaiju  panjang  umoor),  a  new'  species  (Vac- 
ciniicm  forbesii),  and  one  of  the  most  handsome  of  its  genus. 
It  was  first  met  with  as  a  shrub,  low  and  compact,  but  500  feet 
higher  it  became  a  tree  with  a  circumference  of  four  feet. 
This,  with  the  scarlet  rhododendron  already  mentioned,  and 
many  species  of  ferns,  monopolised  the  mountain  up  to  9000 
feet,  where  I  gathered,  w  ith  perhaps  more  satisfaction  still,  a 
wee  species  of  Gentian  that  expanded  its  blue  flowers  on  the 
bare  earthy  banks. 

To  obtain  the  full  pleasure  of  the  climb,  the  day  must  be 
perfectly  clear,  such  as  the  first  day  of  May  on  which  I  made 
my  most  memorable  ascent.  It  was  one  of  the  few  absolutely 
rainless  days  of  my  stay.  When  that  height  was  attained 
where  the  forest  dwindled  to  a  shrubbery,  every  foot  of  ascent 
added  to  the  grandeur  of  our  outlook  and  to  the  number  of 
the  peaks  on  peaks  that  came  in  view,  along  whose  flanks  the 
clouds  rolled  u})wards  in  white  humps  and  scuds,  in  striking 
contrast  witli  tlie  intense  cobalt  blue  of  their  crests  towerinj; 


210  A   NATUBALIST'S    WANDEBINGS 


against  a  sky  of  the  most  delicate  tint  of  sea-green.  At  9700 
feet,  the  summit  of  uhat  the  natives  call  the  Dempo  was 
surmounted,  whence  I  looked  down  into  the  Sawah,  or  ancient 
crater  of  the  mountain  the  site  of  their  sacred  feasts  and  offer- 
ings, and  across  to  the  Merapi,  or  Firejjeak,  a  more  recent  cone, 
now  the  true  summit  of  the  volcano.  Here  almost  no  insects, 
except  annoying  swarms  of  blue-bottle  flies,  were  seen  ;  but 
the  little  White-eyes  (Zosferops  clihrata)  which  had  accompa- 
nied us  all  the  way  up,  flitted  about  on  the  Vaccinrum  forbesii, 
their  nostrils  laden  with  its  pollen,  busily  performing  that 
important  part  in  the  economy  of  nature  by  which  vigour  is 
added  to  the  plants,  and  size  and  beauty  to  their  flowers  by 
their  cross-fertilisation. 

A  steep  descent  of  200  feet  brought  me  to  the  Sawah  (where 
I  built  a  camp),  whose  dark  brown  and  greyish-black  sandy 
soil  emitted  a  powerful  odour  of  sulphur.  It  Avas  dotted  every- 
where with  clumps  of  heaths  and  rhododendrons  and  plants 
with  crisp  dark  green  leaves,  and  with  white  woolly-foliaged 
species  of  Compositse  characteristic  of  volcanic  soil  {Anapihalis 
javanica  and  A.  saxatilis),  which  have  a  strong  aromatic  odour 
somewhat  like  that  of  camomile.  An  infusion  of  its  leaves 
is  supposed,  from  its  sacred  habitat  (for  it  grows  nowhere 
else  on  the  mountain),  to  possess  healing  powers.  The  slope 
of  the  cone  was  dotted  with  "  Long-age  "  whortleberry  get- 
ting more  and  more  stunted  as  we  ascended,  till,  within  200 
feet  of  the  rim  of  the  crater,  it  almost  disappeared  except  as  a 
low  bush  of  one  and  a-half  to  two  feet  high.  The  whole  face 
of  the  ascent  was  covered  with  loose  stones  and  pieces  of 
pumice  an  1  scoria). 

After  a  puffing  clamber  from  the  Sawah  we  gained  the  rim 
of  the  crater,  looking  down  some  300  feet  of  precipitous  rock, 
on  what  seemed  a  pure  white  polished  mirror,  set  in  a  central 
basin  from  which  was  slowly  rising  a  column  of  steam.  All 
was  quiet  and  placid,  and  I  sat  down  a  little  to  take  in  the 
details  of  a  scene  so  novel  to  me  : — a  vast  circular  basin  half  a 
mile  in  diameter,  with  rocky  sides  of  sheer  precipices,  display- 
ing at  various  places  horizontal  strata  ;  at  the  bottom  of  this 
another  smaller  basin,  some  20O  feet  in  diameter,  filled  to 
within  about  30  or  40  feet  of  its  rim  with  a  smoking  substance, 
whose  surface,  like  burnished  silver,  reflected  the  blue  sky  and 


IN  SUMATRA.  211 


every  passing  cloud.  We  bad  sat  thus  for  perhaps  ten  to 
twelve  minutes  when  I  noted  that  the  centre  of  the  white  basin 
had  become  intensely  black,  and  scored  with  dark  streaks. 
This  area  gradually  increased.  By  steady  scrutiny  with  my 
glass,  for  it  was  difficult  to  make  out  what  was  silently 
and  slowly  transpiring,  I  at  last  discovered  that  the  black- 
ness marked  the  sides  of  a  chasm  that  had  formed  in — what  I 
now  perceived  the  white  burnished  mirror  to  be — a  lake  of 
seethinsc  mud.  The  blackness  increased.  The  lake  was  being: 
engulphed !  A  few  minutes  later  a  dull  sidlen  roar  was  heard, 
and  I  had  just  time  to  conjecture  within  myself  whence  it 
proceeded,  when  the  whole  lake  heaved,  and  rose  in  the  air  for 
some  hundreds  of  feet,  not  as  if  violently  ejected,  but  with 
calm  majestic  upheaval ;  and  then  fell  back  on  itself  with  an 
awesome  roar,  which  reverberated  round  and  round  the  vast 
cauldron,  and  echoed  from  rocky  wall  to  rocky  wall  like  the 
surge  of  an  angry  sea ;  and  the  immense  volume  of  steam,  let 
loose  from  its  prison-house,  dissipated  itself  into  the  air.  The 
wave  circles  died  away  on  the  margin  of  the  lake,  which 
resumed  its  burnished  face  and  again  reflected  the  blue  sky ; 
and  silence  reigned  again  until  the  geyser  had  gathered  force 
for  anotlier  expiration.  The  roar  of  the  coming  explosion  was 
so  awesome  that  such  of  my  porters  who  had  followed  me,  and 
had  never  been  to  the  top  before,  looked  the  picture  of  terror  ; 
and  when  the  lake  rose  they  took  to  their  heels  and  fled  in  a 
l)ody.  Thus  all  day  long  the  lake  was  swallowed  up  and 
vomited  forth,  once  in  every  fifteen  to  twenty  minutes.  That 
it  was  not  always  so  quiet  even  as  now,  the  stones  on  the  Sawah 
and  the  scoria)  on  the  sides  of  the  cone  testified.  Once  in  about 
every  three  years,  and  in  some  decades  oftener,  the  natives 
told  rae,  the  crops  of  coffee,  bananas  and  rice  Avere  quite 
destroyed  by  '•'  sulphur-rain,"  wliich  covered  everything  for 
miles  round  the  crater. 

On  its  eastern  side,  where  the  rim  rises  to  its  highest  eleva- 
tion, I  made  a  hypsometrical  observation;  but  it  required  all 
my  endurance  to  complete  it,  for,  though  a  cold  wind  was 
blowing  and  the  thermometer  registered  only  G3°  F.,  the 
sun's  rays  seemed  to  possess  more  than  their  ordinary  power. 
I  could  feel,  with  acute  pain,  my  hands,  face  and  neclc  being 
scorched  the  moment  they  came   into  the   sunshine.     I  auc- 


212  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

ceeded,  however,  in  obtaining  data  which  enabled  me  to 
calculate  the  elevation  to  be  10,o6"2  feet. 

I  walked  round  the  greater  part  of  the  ring  of  the  crater, 
searching  under  the  stones  and  among  the  shrubs  for  what 
signs  of  life  there  might  be,  pausing  every  now  and  then  to 
view  the  extended  stretch  of  country  spread  out  beneath.  On 
the  margin  of  the  crater  a  butterfly,  like  our  little  Heaths, 
disported  itself;  but  it  always  eluded  my  net  by  simply  flitting 
over  the  edge ;  and  among  the  Ericaceous  shrubs  a  minute 
moth  {?  Diopxa),  which  seems  able  to  maintain  well  existence, 
although  it  cannot  leave  its  foothold  on  the  shrubs  without 
being  dashed  to  the  ground  by  the  strong  winds  perpetually 
prevailing  there  ;  a  few  small  Carahidfe  beneath  the  stones,  and 
other  minute  species  swept  from  the  bushes,  represented  the 
coleopterous  life.  Little  flocks  of  the  small  green  Flower- 
pecker  [Zosterops)  were  the  only  birds  seen  or  heard  at  the 
summit ;  but  several  others  were  obtained  in  the  more  protected 
Sawah,  among  them  the  Himalayan  Lusciniola  fuliginiventris. 

As  the  sun  began  to  decline  the  temperature  decreased 
rapidly,  warning  us  to  prepare  for  a  cold  night.  After  I  had 
put  on  triple  suits  of  clothes,  which  made  me  feel  no  more 
than  comfortable,  I  set  about  directing  the  preparation  of  a 
sheltered  camp  for  the  porters  and  other  natives,  who,  unless 
ordered  would  take  no  care  to  protect,  themselves  against 
the  cold  which  at  high  elevations  is  so  very  frequently  fatal 
to  them.  At  sunset  the  temperature  fell  to  472°  F.  The 
night  was  perfectly  clear,  and  the  stars  seemed  to  shine  with 
a  brilliancy  almost  equal  to  that  of  our  own  frosty  skies, 
and  to  my  eye  certainly  more  clearly  than  I  had  ever  seen 
them  from  the  tropical  plains.  When  at  4  o'clock  next 
morning  I  went  out  into  the  Sawah,  though  the  thermometer 
registered  47°  F.  (the  lowest  reading  of  the  night  was  42^)  the 
air,  which  was  perfectly  still — its  silence  indeed  almost  over- 
whelming— felt  absolutely  free  from  rawness  in  marked  con- 
trast to  what  I  had  experienced  at  sunset  under  almost  the 
same  reading  of  the  thermometer. 

After  a  cup  of  hot  coffee — at  least  as  hot  as  it  could  be  had  at 
an  elevation  of  9900  feet,  that  is  to  say,  not  much  above  194"^  F., 
we  started  for  the  summit  of  the  cone  to  see  the  sun  rise, 
under  the  guidance  of  one  of  the  chiefs  who  had  accompanied 


IN  SUMATltA.  21J 


me,  pickinj:^  our  way  in  the  dark  over  the  stones  and  among 
the  bushes.  We  had  hardly  set  out  when  a  dense  mist  began 
to  envelop  its  flanks  and  summit,  which  up  to  this  time  had 
stood  out  against  the  sky  with  perfect  sharpness.  Before  we 
were  able  to  reach  the  crest  we  could  see  that  the  sun  had 
already  come  up,  from  the  lighter  glow  of  the  mist  in  the  east ; 
but  no  view  anywhere,  however,  could  be  obtained.  It  was 
very  cold  and  damp,  and  the  thermometer  did  not  register  up 
to  seven  o'clock  more  than  48'5U°  F.,  and  even  at  half-past 
seven  it  had  fallen  again  to  4550°  F.  Hoping  that  the  mist 
would  clear,  we  seated  ourselves  behind  a  rock  out  of  the  wind  to 
watch  the  geyser  below  us ;  and  beside  one  of  the  small 
enclosures,  or  low  barricades  of  stone  a  few  feet  in  length, 
which  were  dotted  all  along  the  ridge,  the  sleeping  places,  thus 
roughly  sheltered  from  the  wind,  of  the  devotees  who  come  to 
inquire  of  the  Dewa  of  the  mountain  in  times  of  difficulty  or, 
as  my  guide  said,  in  hope  of  finding  near  them  in  the  morning 
some  charm  whose  possession  would  protect  them  against  harm 
or  enable  them  to  prevail  over  their  enemies,  or  to  attain  some 
dear  object  of  their  desire  or  ambition  ;  ''  but  they  often,"  ho 
added,  "  experience  nothing  but  the  cold." 

As  the  sun  rose  a  little  higher  and  stronger,  I  observed  on 
the  margin  of  the  crater  opposite  to  us  a  curious  horseshoe- 
shaped  rainbow,  and  for  some  moments  I  was  not  aware  that  I 
was  witnessing  a  display  of  the  Spectre  of  the  BrosJcen.  Each 
person's  shadow  thrown  oh  the  mist  was  surrounded  by  a  bright 
halo  outside  which  was  a  band  of  mist,  and  the  whole  enclosed 
in  the  distinct  horseshoe-shaped  rainbow.  At  length  the  mist 
entirely  cleared  off  the  mountains,  and  we  stood  gazing  on  a 
wonderful  scene  half  land  and  half  sea,  from  the  highest  peak 
within  the  sweep  of  the  eye;  but  any  attempt  to  convey  a 
picture  of  such  varied  elements  can  be  at  best  but  mere  dis- 
jointed suggestions. 

Looking  away  south-east,  the  eye.  passing  over  the  plain  of 
Passumah  Ulu  Manna,  laid  out  in  rice-fields  in  their  first 
fresh  greenness  of  Alay,  and  dotted  with  grove-environed 
villages,  falls  on  the  white  surf  of  the  distant  ocean  far  to  the 
south  of  the  town  of  ]\ranna,  and  follows  it  northward  by  its 
forest-clad  margin,  on  which  I  could  even  discern  the  tide 
gently  heaving,  to  beyond   Bencoolen,  until  the  meeting  of 


214  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

sea  and  sky  and  the  peaks  of  the  Barisan  draws  the  view  along 
the  northward-stretching  forest  of  mountain  tops,  with  their 
shaded  valleys  and  endless  lines  and  curves  of  beauty,  all  of 
the  deepest  cobalt  blue,  deepened  in  hue  by  contrast  with  the 
cloud  flocks  that  floated  athwart  their  flanks  and  summits — pro- 
minent among  them  the  ridges  of  Korintji.  Nearer  stood  out 
the  Kaba,  with  its  smoking  top  ;  and  could  that  sharp  cone 
smoking  on  the  horizon  be  the  peak  of  Indrapura,  with  its 
13,000  feet  of  stature  three  degrees  of  latitude  away  ?  From 
its  sides  the  eye  glided  to  the  flat  forest-clad  plateau  of  Ulu- 
Lintang,  an  old  inland  lake-floor  which  lay  utterly  hidden 
beneatii  a  great  cloud -sheet  spread  out  close  down  on  its 
tree-tops,  reflecting  the  sun  like  a  mirror ;  thence  to  the  distant 
verge  of  the  broad  Passumah  below  the  mountain,  void  almost 
of  trees  save  a  few  by  the  ravine  sides  and  on  the  precipitous 
slopes  of  the  gorges,  over  which  lay  fringes  and  patches  of  cloud 
demonstrating  the  attracting  power  of  even  a  slight  arboreal 
vegetation.  Out  of  this  undulating  plateau,  with  its  waste  of 
grass,  amid  which  its  flashing  tabats  looked  like  glittering 
specks  of  glass  scattered  over  it — the  eye  passed  to  the  sontli 
and  south-western  cobalt  peaks  and  domes  of  the  Barisan, 
studded  with  flocky  hummocks,  and  followed  them  till  their 
summits  projected  themselves  on  the  Indian  Ocean  at  the  point 
where  the  eye  commenced  its  survey.  No  art  could  figure  to 
the  mind  the  light  and  shade,  the  massive  sheets  of  colour  in 
the  wide  scene  ;  the  thousand  different  pictures  that  went  and 
came  that  summer's  day  upon  the  landscape's  changeless  out- 
lines. The  grand  yet  dread  thundering  of  the  geyser  at  our 
feet,  the  scene  of  peace  and  mystic  beauty  outspread  in  solemn 
silence  beneath  and  around  us.  To  have  to  speak  or  to  listen 
was  an  acute  pain,  and  as  distracting  as  a  clamour  of  carping 
tongues  in  the  midst  of  some  sweet  melody  or  grand  outburst 
of  music.  As  I  grudgingly  descended  and  the  scene  closed 
behind  me  I  felt  that  this  perhaps  had  been  an  audience  with 
the  Dewa  of  the  mountain — at  all  events  I  had  gained  by 
communing  with  Nature  from  this  high  pedestal  of  hers. 

My  future  programme  included  a  visit  to  the  Kaba  volcano, 
to  the  sources  of  the  Eiver  Rawas,  and,  if  the  Djambi  people 
did  not  prove  too  hostile,  an  excursion  into  that  Sultanate. 
As  all  this  would  at  least  require  six  months  to  accomplish, 


IN  SUMATRA.  215 


I  was  forced  to  draw  my  tent-poles  in  the  end  of  May,  so  as  to 
reach  Batavia  in  the  beginning  of  the  year  1882  in  order  to 
prepare  for  my  long-phmned  expedition  to  the  Far  East  of  the 
Archipehxgo. 

It  Avas  with  the  liveliest  regret  that  I  took  leave  of  the 
village  of  Pan,  where  I  had  experienced  more  pleasure  than 
in  any  other  locality  I  had  yet  visited.  The  climate  was 
simply  delicious.  Every  forenoon,  at  least,  was  bright  and 
sunny,  and  the  heat  was  never  too  great  to  be  oppressive  or 
disagreeable,  while  the  evenings  were  cool  and  the  nights  cold 
enough  to  make  a  blanket  enjoyable.  Sickness  was  never 
once  thought  about.  Altogether,  but  for  the  difficulties  of 
food  supply  and  companionship  I  could  have  wished  to  reside 
there  always.  In  its  neighbourhood  I  had  gathered  nume- 
rous interesting  birds  and  insects.  I  had  added  A^tidopteriis 
arinatus  to  the  fauna  of  Sumatra,  obtained  Papilio  diaphantus, 
Liminitis  hocldi,  and  added  to  science  Idas  jlavipennis,  and 
species  of  Terias,  Danais,  and  KaUima  and  many  of  the  rarest 
and  most  beautiful  productions  of  the  vegetable  kingdom, 
especially  of  the  giant  trees  and  among  the  Orchidaceie  and 
Hajflesiacew. 

Retracing  my  steps  to  Pagar  Alam,  I  took  my  way  north- 
eastward, and,  crossing  the  Ayer  Durian  which  has  its  source 
in  the  crater  of  the  Dempo,  passed  out  of  the  Passumah 
Lands  towards  the  Kaba.  Reaching  Gunung  IMeraksa,  in  the 
cleft  of  the  Right  and  Left  Lintang  rivers,  I  learned  that  I 
might  shorten  my  way  to  Tebbing-tinggi  by  taking  a  raft 
journey  on  the  river — a  mode  of  travel  I  had  not  before  tried. 
These  rafts,  made  of  tiers  of  bamboo  well  secured  together  by 
pegs  and  rattan  ropes,  with  an  elevated  platform  in  the  centre 
out  of  the  reach  of  water,  are  guided  by  two  pilots  with 
lonir  oars.  The  Lintan":  river  was  verv  rough  and  narrow, 
interrupted  at  short  distances  by  rapids  over  Avhich  it  required 
the  greatest  skill  and  knowledge  of  its  rocks  to  guide  us  in 
safety.  We  sailed  mostly  between  perpendicular  banks  of 
rough  marls  of  Miocene  age,  against  whose  cliffs  in  many 
places  the  river,  descending  a  stony  rapid,  precipitated  itself, 
sweeping  round  its  base  at  a  right  angle.  The  danger  lay  in 
the  raft's  not  obeying  the  working  of  the  steersman's  long  stern- 
paddle,  and  being  dashed  to  pieces  at  these  uncanny  corners 


216  A    NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

where  the  sail  being  rather  more  exciting  than  pleasant  I  used  to 
clutch  my  seat  with  a  nervous  grip  till  they  were  safely  passed. 
All  along  the  river's  course  every  new  bend  presented  us  with 
varying  pictures — quiet  stretches  of  smooth  black  water  over- 
hung with  drooping  trees,  scenes  of  village  life,  and  green 
cultivated  fields. 

Ten  miles  down,  the  Lintang  merged  in  the  deep  broad 
Musi,  along  which  we  glided  rapidly  with  a  delightful  motion 
to  the  village  of  Lampar,  which  looked  so  promising  a  field 
that  I  was  induced  to  pitch  camp  for  a  time  there  to  prosecute 
my  botanical  work. 

While  here  I  found  a  second  specimen  of  that  curious  spider 
{Ornithoscatoides  decipiens)  which  I  had  discovered  in  Java. 
One  day  when  my  boys  were  procuring  for  me  from  a  high  tree 
some  botanical  specimens,  I  was  rather  dreamily  looking  on 
the  shrubs  before  me  during  the  moments  of  waiting,  when  I 
became  conscious  of  my  eyes  resting  on  a  leaf  marked  with  the 
excreta  of  a  bird.  "  How  strange  it  is  that  I  have  never  found 
another  specimen  of  that  curious  spider  I  got  two  years  ago  in 
Java,  which  simulated  a  mark  just  like  this  !  "  So  thinking,  I 
plucked  the  leaf  by  its  petiole,  and  looked  half  listlessly  at  it, 
mentally  remarking  how  very  cleverly  that  other  spider  had 
copied  nature,  when  to  my  delighted  surprise  I  found  that  I 
had  actually  a  second  specimen  in  my  hand ;  but  the  imitation 
was  so  exquisite  that  I  really  did  not  perceive  how  matters 
stood  for  some  moments.  The  spider  never  moved  while  I  was 
plucking  and  twisting  the  leaf,  and  it  was  only  after  I  placed 
the  tip  of  my  finger  on  it  that  I  observed  that  it  was  lying  on 
its  back,  when  with  the  rapidest  motion,  but  without  any 
perceptible  displacement  of  itself  it  flashed  its  falces  into 
my  flesh.  I  have  already  described  the  habits  of  this  spider 
at  page  63.  It  was  extremely  interesting  to  find  again, 
evidently  as  a  constant  habit,  that  the  thin  web  film  had  been 
drawn  out  as  if  to  represent  some  of  the  fluid  portion  of 
the  excreta  arrested  in  a  drop  before  it  had  altogether  run 
to  the  margin  of  the  sloping  leaf.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
the  spider  must  have  acquired  this  mimicking  habit  by  natural 
selection  ;  yet  it  is  difficult  to  explain  how  these  minutiae, 
which  are  not  constant  or  essential  in  the  model,  have  come 
to  be  so  accurately  copied ;  one  cannot  believe  that  it  would 


IN  SUMATRA.  217 


have  been  a  whit  worse  off  had  the  copy  been  less  minutely 
imitated. 

In  the  beginning  of  July  I  packed  my  Lanting  and  con- 
tinued my  journey  to  Batu  Pantjeh,  gliding  down  the  river 
by  this  delightful  mode  of  travel,  wh\ch  enabled  me,  carrying 
my  drying-paper  and  frames  with  me,  to  botanise  all  along 
the  river-side,  stopping  when  and  where  I  desired. 

Near  this  village,  the  country  became  much  lower  on  both 
sides,  showing  that  we  were  approaching  the  borders  of  the 
great  alluvial  plateau  of  Palembang.  Among  my  excursions  I 
suddenly  came  one  day  on  a  wide  area,  in  the  deep  forest, 
overspread  with  coral  blocks,  which  in  some  places  had  become 
solidified  into  more  or  less  crystalline  masses  like  what  one 
sees  in  the  basework  of  a  coral  reef.  It  was  evident  that  they 
were  standing,  as  left  centuries  ago  by  the  seashore  where 
they  were  washed  through  and  round  about  by  the  surf; 
here  corroded  into  crevices  and  bored  by  molluscs,  and  there 
excavated  into  deep  pits,  and  surrounded  with  blocks  of  worn 
stones  as  if  the  tide  had  not  long  retreated  from  this  old  shore, 
to-day  distant  as  the  crow  Hies  200  miles  from  the  coast.  Now, 
however,  great  trees  were  shadowing  them,  and  gigantic  figs 
twining  their  roots  among  their  grateful  crannies ;  ferns  clothed 
with  graceful  fronds  the  wasted  blocks,  and  Begonias  blossomed 
over  them.     To  alter  Tennyson's  well-known  lines  : — 

Tiiere  roU'd  the  deep  where  grows  the  tree, 

O  earth,  Avhat  changes  hasl  thou  seen  ! 
There  where  the  forest  sleeps  hath  beeu 

The  shore  line  of  the  noisy  sea. 

I  was  detained  here,  by  an  injury  to  my  foot,  for  many 
weeks  much  against  my  will,  for  the  half  pagan  half  3Iaho- 
medan  people  of  the  Ampat  Lawang  in  unpleasant  contrast 
to  those  of  the  other  regions  I  had  been  among,  were  any- 
thing but  friendly.  They  would  neither  give  nor  sell  food 
of  any  description,  except  a  little  old  rice  of  the  worst  quality. 
They  even  refused  to  carry  my  letters,  so  that  I  was  unable  to 
make  known  my  condition  to  the  authorities  or  obtain  relief  till 
I  was  well  enough  to  resume  my  journey  to  complain  in  person, 
when  the  chief  of  the  village  was  rewarded  according  to  his 
deeds  by  the  IMagistrate. 

The  liatu  rantjeh  houses  are  of  a  peculiar  construction,  com- 


218  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

pact  and  picturesque,  best  described  by  saying  that  they  are 
furnished  in  front  with  a  broad,  partly  roofed  verandah,  fenced 
round  by  a  close  bamboo  wickerwork,  nearly  concealing  the 
inmates  when  standing  erect,  and  protected  by  a  strong  door, 
which  is  reached  by  a  stair.  With  their  floors  on  the  level  of 
the  verandah  and  their  doors  opening  on  to  it,  are  little  huts 
built  out  beyond  the  edge  of  the  verandah,  for  cooking  pur- 
poses, for  keeping  fowls  in,  for  storing  rice  and  for  other  con- 
veniences, altogether  forming  a  most  convenient,  commodious, 
and  secure  dwelling,  below  which,  as  usual,  their  store  of 
chopped  wood  is  kept. 

One  morning  I  was  awakened  by  a  vigorous  clattering  of 
sticks,  accompanied  by  much  laughter.  On  looking  out  I 
perceived  that  most  of  the  rice-blocks  of  the  village  had  been 
hauled  together,  and  that  the  maidens  of  the  place  were 
beating  on  them  in  concert  a  lively  tattoo  for  some  happy 
occasion.  As  each  block  and  each  stamper  produced  a 
different  note,  the  resulting  music  was  by  no  means  inhar- 
monious. Throughout  the  forenoon  the  boys  and  youths, 
lounging  in  groups,  indulged  at  intervals  in  bursts  of  cheer- 
ing very  like  our  own  hurrah  :  "  Wooi-wood-iL-dd-dd-cid !  " 
Tiie  jubilation  was  on  account  of  a  marriage  which  was  that 
evening  to  be  solemnised  in  the  village.  Next  afternoon  I 
was  again  surprised  by  peals  of  "AVoo-a's!"  proceeding  from  a 
crowd  collected  near  the  house  of  the  newly  married  pair, 
whence  shortly,  amid  vociferous  cheering,  the  bridegroom 
appeared,  wearing  on  his  head  the  cap  of  a  Vice-chief  of  the 
marga,  dressed  in  a  sarong  suspended  by  a  gold-buckled  belt, 
his  body  otherwise  bare  save  for  a  sash-like  cloth  across  his 
chest.  By  his  side  he  wore  a  gold- handled  kriss,  and  carried 
in  his  right  hand  a  be-flagged  lance  with  its  tip  sheathed — 
the  wedding  staff.  Over  his  head  one  of  his  young  men  held  a 
white  umbrella,  another  carried  his  siri-box,  while  a  drum  and 
several  gongs  played  in  advance  of  the  procession.  A  little 
bshind  him  came  the  bride  weeping,  in  a  purple  silk  badjo  and 
a  red  petticoat  worked  with  thread  of  gold,  attended  by  all 
the  maidens  of  the  village,  some  of  whom  performed  for  her 
the  same  offices  as  the  young  men  did  for  her  husband.  The 
processions  wended  their  way  to  the  river,  Avhere  both  the  bride 
and  the  bridegroom  were  bathed  by  their  respective  attendants, 


7.V  SUMATRA.  219 


after  which  they  returned,  preceded  by  an  old  female  relative 
of  the  bridegroom,  who  spread  cloths  before  them  all  the  waj 
to  a  spot  in  the  centre  of  the  village.  Here  a  couple  of  mats 
a  little  distance  apart,  had  been  placed,  on  the  one  of  which 
the  bridegroom  and  his  relatives,  and  on  the  other  the  bride 
and  hers,  seated  themselves,  each  with  their  umbrella  and 
siri-box  before  them.  During  the  intervals  of  music  that 
attended  the  ceremony,  the  youths  of  the  bridegroom's  party 
pelted,  as  if  slily  and  clandestinely,  with  handfuls  of  yellowed 
rice  the  bride  and  her  attendant  maidens,  who  returned 
the  compliment,  while  the  fowls  were  enticed  to  pick  up  the 
grains  that  fell  on  the  ground.  This  was  supposed  to  be  an 
invocation  to  the  Dewa  to  bless  the  union  and  grant  sufficient 
food,  with  at  least  a  superabundance  for  the  fowls  to  pick 
up.  The  old  relative  made  various  inquiries  at  both  parties : 
"  Will  he  have  this  woman  ?  "  "  Will  she  have  this  man  ?  " 
When  the  "  I  will !  "  had  been  publicly  said  and  returned  in 
the  face  of  the  village,  she  presented  a  lump  of  rice  to  the 
bride  who  took  a  bite,  and  the  rest  she  placed  in  the  mouth 
of  the  bridegroom — in  token  that  the  wife  was  to  have  the 
same  board  as  her  husband.  After  sitting  for  an  hour  or 
so  in  the  face  of  the  village,  to  make  brothers  with  all  the 
inhabitants,  and  as  an  advertisement  of  their  new  relations, 
the  procession  continued  its  way  to  the  house  of  the  bride- 
groom, where  a  feast  was  provided.  The  closing  act  of  the 
ceremony  was  the  removal  by  the  husband  of  all  his  wife's 
ornaments  and  jewels,  which  she  could  never  again  resume 
unless  she  wished  to  commit  that  supreme  crime  in  the  eyes 
of  her  husband,  of  appearing  to  wish  that  she  were  a  maiden 
again. 

All  day  long  the  boys  used  to  amuse  themselves  under  my 
window  with  a  game  called  Lepar,  that  interested  me  much 
partly  from  the  rarity  of  games  among  the  children,  as  well  as 
from  the  enthusiastic  manner  in  which  they  played  it.  Each 
player,  furnisliod  with  a  quoit-shaped  disk  cut  out  of  a  eocoanut 
shell,  played  forward  from  a  stance,  so  as  to  strike  either  one  or 
(according  to  the  number  of  players)  more  disks  arranged  on 
the  ground  some  forty  or  fifty  foot  distant.  E;ich  played  in 
succession;  his  turn  continuing  after  his  first  three  shots,  till 
he  failed  to  drive  his  own  against  any  of  the  goal  disks.     The 


220  A    NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

manner  of  propelling  the  disks  was  curious.  The  player, 
placing  his  shell  flat  on  the  ground,  turned  his  back  to  the 
goal,  and,  firmly  grasping  his  quoit  between  his  heels,  with  a 
circular  motion  of  the  one  leg  he  caused  the  disk  to  shoot 
forward,  describing  on  its  rim  a  cycloidal  curve  towards  the 
goal.  It  was  surprising  with  what  accuracy  the  best  players 
calculated  the  force  necessary  to  make  it  describe  a  curve 
whose  circumference  should  just  pass  through  the  disk  aimed 
at.  The  players  Avere  divided  into  two  unequal  parties, 
the  smaller  being  "  out."  As  long  as  a  player  was  able  to 
strike  with  three  tries  the  first  goal-shell,  and  then  the  others 
in  succession,  he  remained  an  "  in  "-player,  and  was  carried 
back  each  time  to  the  stance  on  the  back  of  one  of  the  out- 
players.  When  he  failed  he  became  an  out-player,  and  had  to 
deposit  his  shell  at  the  goal  to  be  played  at  by  the  others.  If 
a  disk  discharged  from  the  stance  described  a  curve  "  out  of 
bounds,"  one  of  the  out-players  croqueted  it  from  the  stance  as 
far  as  he  could,  and  from  the  spot  where  it  came  to  rest  the 
player's  second  stroke  had  to  be  made.  They  played  with 
wonderfully  good  humour,  and  compared  favourably  with  an 
equal  number  of  boys  at  home.  1  never  witnessed  a  case  of 
ill-temper  or  sourness  at  losing,  or  quarrelling  during  the 
many  days  I  was  in  the  village. 

I  was  not  very  fortunate,  owing  to  my  illness,  in  obtaining 
many  new  birds,  but  some  of  the  sun-birds,  which  frequented 
the  cocoa-palm  flowers  and  the  blossoms  of  shrubs  close  at 
hand,  were  of  remarkable  beauty,  especially  a  species  of 
Cinnyris  {G.  liasselti)  with  a  forehead  of  deep  metallic  ultra- 
marine blue  ;  its  neck  and  back  of  the  darkest  lake,  passing 
into  green  and  orange  on  the  rump,  where  the  black  wings 
cover  it ;  below  the  wings  the  tail  protruded,  of  a  deep  blue. 
Its  neck  and  throat  were  of  the  richest  scarlet,  down  which 
ran,  from  the  angles  of  the  jaws,  two  lines  of  the  intensest 
blue.  It  was  such  a  thing  of  beauty  that  I  could  scarcely  dare 
to  handle  it  for  fear  of  injuring  its  gorgeous  tinting. 

From  Batu  Pantjeh  I  moved  down  as  soon  as  I  was  able  to 
Tebbing-Tinggi,  a  large  village  sheltering  under  a  forest-clad 
hill,  with  a  considerable  Arab  and  Chinese  population,  who 
have  good  shops  and  carry  on  a  large  and  prosj)erous  trade 
with  the  surrounding  districts.     To  me,  who  had  so  long  been 


IN  SUMATBA.  221 


dwelling  amid  the  monotonous  life  of  the  mountain  villages  of 
the  interior,  the  frequent  bugle-calls,  the  uniformed  troops, 
the  overshadowing  stone-built  fortress,  the  shop-fronts,  which 
seemed  large  in  my  eyes,  the  substantial  houses,  the  boats  on 
the  river  loading  and  unloading  cargoes,  the  coolies  running  to 
and  fro  with  goods — this  gentle  troubling  of  the  pool  of  industry, 
seemed  to  me  the  very  bustle  of  a  metropolis  ;  and  as  I  walked 
down  its  one  street  to  the  Travellers'  Bungalow^  in  my  travel- 
scarred  garments,  great  sun-hat  and  rough  boots,  I  felt  the 
bashfulness  of  a  rustic  adding  to  the  redness  of  my  sunburnt 
countenance,  and  as  uncomfortable  as  if  I  had  been  planted 
down  in  similar  attire  in  Eegent  Street. 

In  resuming  my  journey  towards  the  Kaba  I  had  to  give  up 
mv  late  delicious  mode  of  travel,  and  change  the  river  for  the 
road.  Keaching  the  village  of  Tandjong-Ning,  I  found  that 
much  tree-felling  was  going  on  in  the  forests  pertaining  to  it ; 
and,  hoping  to  enrich  my  herbarium,  I  set  up  my  camp  for  a 
while  in  its  Balai,  a  structure  that  might  have  held  an  army. 
But  the  village  was  very  unsavoury,  as  every  sort  of  filth  and 
refuse  from  the  houses  was  allowed  to  drop  through  the  floor  to 
the  ground  below.  I  found  that  my  fame  had  reached  before 
me,  and  that  not  particularly  favourably.  For  some  time  tigers 
had  been  prowling  about  in  the  district  in  great  numbers,  and. 
as  the  Dempo  is  called  the  "  Barracks  of  the  Tigers,"  they  had 
been  scared  from  their  natural  home  by  a  potent  spell  which 
I  must  have  set  up  there  when  I  ascended  it.  It  was  no  use 
to  deny  the  imputation — "  it  was  well  known  !  " 

The  village  was  prettily  situated  above  the  river  Saling, 
which  wound  about  below  it  in  a  deep  rocky  gorge,  through 
banks  which  are  excavated  into  long  pools  and  deep  pots  and 
s[)arkling  rapids,  full  of  fish  of  fifteen  different  kinds  (accord- 
ing to  the  enumeration  of  the  village  chief),  and  for  which  the 
inhabitants,  who  seem  ardent  lovers  of  the  gentle  art,  angle 
with  great  assiduity  and  success  with  bamboo  fishing-rods, 
and  a  line  of  single  fibre  strong  as  cat-gut,  drawn  out  of  the 
bark  of  a  tree. 

Where  the  felling  was  going  on  in  the  forest,  I  obtained 

many  fine  specimens,  and  nowhere  do  I  recollect  to  have  seen 

such  enormous  trees.     Thickly  scattered  about  on  the  ground 

as  they  were,  over  an  area  of  perhaps  a  mile  square,  I  failed 

16 


222  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

to  realise  the  gigantic  proportions  of  their  prostrate  trunks 
till  I  began  to  move  about  and  travel  along  them.  A  human 
figure  was  lost  among  them.  Standing  by  these  trunks,  my 
head  often  did  not  reach  much  more  than  to  half  the  height 
of  some  of  them,  while  their  length  of  bare  stem  measured  as 
much  as  forty  or  fifty  yards  before  giving  oif  a  branch. 

One  afternoon,  as  I  was  returning  from  this  forest  with  my 
men  who  had  been  felling  trees,  walking  in  line  one  behind 
the  other  as  is  their  custom,  a  tiger  suddenly  slipped  from  the 
jungle  bordering  the  road,  and  in  a  moment  struck  down  a 
youth  a  few  yards  before  me.  I  dared  not  fire  for  fear  of 
striking  the  youth,  but  his  father,  who  was  walking  just  in 
front  of  him  armed  with  a  spear,  dashed  on  it  and  gave  it 
a  right  willing  thrust,  which,  with  the  threatening  group,  made 
it  quit  its  hold,  when  it  sprang  into  the  thick  jungle.  It  was 
all  the  work  of  a  moment ;  the  stroke  of  its  paw  did  not  seem 
to  be  tremendous,  but  the  claws  of  the  brute  had  penetrated 
so  deeply  into  the  chest  and  shoulder  of  the  youth  that  he 
survived  scarcely  a  quarter  of  an  hour  after  being  carried  into 
the  village.  Early  next  morning  I  was  aroused  by  a  great 
commotion,  a  loud  screaming  and  scampering  of  feet,  amid 
which  I  heard  the  word  "  Matjan "  (tiger).  Jumping  up,  I 
slid  a  cartridge  into  my  Martini- Henry,  and  rushed  out,  to 
find  every  man  brandishing  a  long  spear  in  the  one  hand  and 
a  kriss  in  the  other,  all  looking  very  scared.  The  tiger  of  the 
previous  day  had  come  after  his  unburied  quarry,  as  they 
firmly  believed  and  asserted  against  my  doubts  that  he  would, 
and  had  actually  ventured  into  the  middle  of  the  village,  and 
within  thirty  feet  of  my  door  which  stood  next  to  the  house 
containing  the  dead  body.  The  clamour  had  frightened  it 
oif  into  the  impenetrable  jungle  which  closely  hedged  round 
the  village,  whither  I  could  follow  it  only  a  very  short  way. 

As  we  re-entered  the  village  the  body  of  the  youth  was 
beinor  brought  out  for  burial  amid  terrible  wailings  of  the 
women.  It  was  sewed  into  a  thick  grass  mat,  on  the  top  of 
which  were  spread  flowers  of  the  cocoa  and  pinang  jjalms,  and 
over  which,  as  it  was  borne  away,  handfuls  of  yellowed  rice  were 
thrown.  The  villagers  fell  in  behind  the  body,  each  man 
with  a  spear  over  his  shoulder,  their  tips  glittering  in  the 
sun  like  a  regiment  of  bayonets,  for  fear  of  another  sudden 


JIY    fOl.l.Ki   luK    Kll.Lh.l)    BY    A    TIGER. 


7.V  SUMATRA.  223 


attack.  The  grave  was  made  deeper  than  usual,  and  well 
protected  on  the  top,  as  they  affirmed  that  the  tiger  would 
certainly  try  to  scrape  up  the  body.  The  lamentations  of  the 
women,  which  were  terrible  to  hear  as  the  body  was  taken 
away,  continued  till  the  return  of  the  people  from  the  funeral, 
and  then  entirely  ceased.  It  is  difficult  to  learn  whether 
these  were  really  bitter  mournings,  or  merely  the  following  of 
their  custom.  The  event,  however,  cast  a  visible  gloom  over 
the  village,  and  I  felt  relieved  when  it  returned  to  its  more 
ordinary  ways.  For  several  nights  after  the  funeral  the  father 
of  the  youth,  sitting  by  himself  alone  in  his  house,  chanted 
from  sundown  till  daybreak  what  they  call  the  Tjeritu  hari, 
or  death  dirge,  a  most  plaintive  lament ;  and  to  me  it  seemed 
the  most  saddening,  woe-laden  wail  I  had  ever  heard,  rising 
and  falling  on  the  silent  night  like  a  wintry  wind. 

As  expected,  the  tiger  attempted  to  scrape  up  the  body  the 
night  after  its  burial.  Next  night  and  for  several  others  I 
watched  the  grave,  but  the  tiger  did  not  keep  tryst  with  me ; 
but  when  I  was  not  there  it  never  failed  to  come.  I  therefore 
assisted  them  to  construct  a  snare  to  catch  it  on  its  first  return. 
A  fence  was  made  at  all  such  places  as  there  was  a  possibility 
of  approach  to  the  grave,  leaving  on  the  cleared  road  a  very 
conspicuous  open  gate,  across  which  a  thin  cord  was  loosely 
drawn,  connected  with  a  green  bamboo  some  thirty  feet  long 
bent  by  the  strength  of  several  men  into  a  bow,  at  whose 
extremity  a  sharp  spear  was  so  arranged  as  to  be  shot  athwart 
the  entrance-gate,  on  the  release  of  the  bamboo  by  the  tiger 
pressing  with  his  breast  on  the  twig-like  cord  in  his  way. 
Every  night  the  trap  was  re-set  for  six  days,  without  the  tiger's 
appearance.  The  seventh  it  was  left  unset  as  apparently  use- 
less ;  next  morning  it  was  found  that  the  tiger  had  been  within 
the  enclosure,  and  I  saw  it  faithfully  set  in  the  evening.  The 
following  morning  I  was  awakened  by  a  great  chattering  out- 
side the  Balai,  and,  starting  up  to  learn  the  cause  of  the  uproar, 
I  was  informed  that  the  traj)  had  shot  in  the  night,  and  the 
spear  had  been  broken  off,  but  the  tiger  had  not  been  found. 
I  was  soon  among  the  eager  crowd,  who  had  armed  to  beat  the 
woods.  It  was  evident  from  the  blood  on  the  spear-shaft  that  it 
was  sorely  wounded,  and  could  not  be  far  off".  We  had  little 
need,  however,  of  gun  or  spear,  for  some  thirty  yards  in   the 


224  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

forest  we  found  the  warm  body  of  the  feline.  Transfixed  from 
side  to  side,  it  had  cleared  the  high  fence  with  one  gigantic 
bound,  and  fallen  dead  where  it  lay.  As  soon  as  it  was  known 
that  the  body  had  been  found,  every  man,  woman  and  child 
hastened  out  of  the  village  to  see  the  carcase  of  their  enemy, 
every  individual,  save  the  youngest  children,  bringing  with 
him  a  knife  or  kriss.  It  was  only  with  the  very  utmost 
difficulty  that  I  could,  by  standing  on  the  body  and  uttering 
the  direst  threats,  prevent  each  of  these  blades  from  being 
thrust  into  the  skin,  which  I  wished  to  preserve.  With  what 
savage  delight  and  revenge  they  did  gloat  over  that  carcase, 
and  run  their  weapons  into  its  body  when  they  could !  What 
blood  there  was  about  was  all  used  up  in  dipping  them  in  to 
insure  bravery ;  and  all  passed  their  krisses  broadside  over  and 
over  the  body  to  absorb  the  potent  emanation  from  this  personi- 
fication of  power  and  boldness.  When  the  body  was  being 
skinned  the  relatives  of  many  of  those  who  had  perished  by 
tigers  came  and  begged  for  a  piece  of  the  heart  or  brain,  that 
they  might  revenge  themselves  by  eating  it— especially  one 
old  woman  who  had  thus  lost  first  her  only  son,  and  later  had 
had  her  husband  carried  off  before  her  eyes. 

The  graveyard  of  the  village  was  laid  out  along  the  river, 
on  each  side  of  a  moss-grown  path,  overshadowed  by  tall  and 
aged  trees.  All  about  grew  delicate  ferns  and  shrubs  sacred 
to  the  dead.  Almost  at  the  end  of  this  tall  avenue  I  came 
one  day  on  a  house  of  some  dimensions,  with  a  closed  door, 
having  a  space  in  front  cleared  of  vegetation,  and  kept  neatly 
in  order.  By  peering  though  an  aperture  I  could  see  inside, 
surrounded  by  a  close  pavement  of  stones,  a  solitary  grave- 
stone. This  was  the  resting-place  of  the  Nene  Poyang,  or 
Forefather,  who  had  established  the  village.  When  any  great 
trouble  overtakes  the  village,  such  as  many  deaths  from  tigers, 
or  times  of  scarcity  befall  them,  they  assemble  here,  and  killing 
a  goat  or  a  buffalo,  they  invoke  the  good  offices  of  the  spirit  of 
their  ancestor.  If  a  man  have  a  dispute  with  another  and  the 
matter  be  referred  to  his  oath,  it  is  over  the  stone  of  their 
ancestor  here  that  he  swears. 


MY    HIT    AT    THE    HOI -SI'IUNGS,    FOOT    OF    THE    KABA    VOLCANO. 


IN   SUMATRA.  225 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

SOJOFEN   IN   THE    PALEMBANG   RESIDENCY — continued. 

Leave  Tandjonfr-Xini  —  Pailnni  Ulak-Tandjonc;  —  Kepala  Tjurup  —  Hot 
siblings  of  the  Kaba — Earthquake — Botanical  features — Curious  iilants — 
Fertilisation  of  Melastonia — A  pilgrimage — The  crater  of  the  Kaba — The 
Noinadic  Kubus — Riipit  river  scenery — Gold  gatherers— ^luara-rn pit 
— Tlie  Darian — Surnlangun — -Thieves  and  thieves'  calendar^ — Malay 
dignity — Leave  for  Muaia  Mengkulem. 

Leaving  the  village  of  Tandjong-Ning,  I  proceeded  across  a 
gradually-rising  country,  at  that  period  very  poverty-stricken, 
in  which  there  was  little  new  or  interesting  to  detain  me. 
Two  days  brought  me  to  Padang  Ulak-Tandjong,  on  the  river 
Klingi,  the  seat  ol  the  magistrate  of  the  district,  where  I  was 
detained  for  several  days  owing  to  the  difficulty  of  obtaining 
transport.  All  the  able-bodied  men  had  left  the  district  in 
search  of  food  in  far-off  parts,  as  there  had  been  no  rice  in  their 
own,  from  the  failure  of  the  crops  for  several  years.  Kepala- 
Tjurup,  the  nearest  village  to  the  Kaba,  was  ten  miles  ftirther 
on,  and  eight  from  the  base  of  the  mountain.  There  I  left  the 
heavy  baggage,  and  by  a  rough  and  difficult  ravine-intersected 
path  through  the  forest,  along  which  I  noticed  not  a  iesv  plants 
new  to  me,  I  proceeded  to  the  hot  springs  at  tlie  base  of  the 
Kaba,  where  I  built  a  hut  arriid  the  steam  which  continually 
rolled  up  from  the  water  that  bubbles  out  in  the  face  of  a  steep 
ravine  at  a  temperature  of  170"  F. 

I  had  not  taken  up  my  quarters  many  hours  before  I  was 
made  sensibly  aware  that  I  was  in  a  volcanic  region  by  a 
severe  and  long-continued  shock  of  earthquake.  Later  on,  on 
the  evening  of  the  lOth  of  September,  I  again  experienced  two 
very  strong  vertical  bumps,  which  tossed  me  clean  upwards 
from  my  chair,  dislodged  a  large  pet  Hornbill  from  its  perch, 
and  shook  a  heavy  shower  of  drops  from  the  trees.     The  Argus 


226  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

pheasants  screamed,  and  the  howl  of  the  Siamang  broke  the 
stillness  of  the  evening.  The  sensation  was  as  if  an  inter- 
mittent upheaval,  such  as  I  witnessed  in  the  crater  of  the 
Dempo,  had  taken  place  under  my  feet. 

The  stream  close  at  hand  swarmed  with  excellent  fish,  of 
which  some  were  caught  every  day  for  my  table ;  the  woods 
were  full  of  deer,  which  frequented  the  hot  springs  to  drink, 
of  herds  of  tapir  and  of  elegant  little  Tragulidae.  Numerous 
Buceros  birds  advertised  their  presence  by  their  cries ;  in  the 
darker  shades  were  pittas  (P.  venusta)  pheasants  and  species  of 
partridge  {Ccdoperdix  oculea);  while  Babbling-thrushes  (Rliino- 
cichla  mitrata  and  Sihia  simillima),  and  many  kinds  besides, 
added  their  chorus  to  the  woods. 

The  botanical  features  of  the  district  were  not  without 
interest,  though  not  so  rich  as  some  of  the  localities  I  had 
already  visited.  At  my  door,  growing  in  a  thicket,  was  one  of 
those  shrubs  (Samhucus  javanica),  which  like  the  Ponicettia, 
produce  in  the  close  vicinity  of  their  florets,  curious  and 
little  cups  full  of  rich,  yellow  honey  whose  function  is  still  a 
disputed  question.  The  species  of  Samhucns  in  Europe,  as 
is  well  known,  have  thread-like  stipules  with  glandular  tips, 
which  in  S.  racemosa,  M.  Bonnier*  has  observed,  produce 
liquid  sugar  abundantly.  H.  Miillert  has  recorded  that  a 
species  of  Samhucns  {S.  nigra  ?)  is  not  visited  by  bees,  but  by 
flies,  on  account  of  its  odour ;  but  JM.  Bonnier  says, "  S.  racemosa 
is  visited  by  bees.  The  distribution  of  the  nectaries  .  .  . 
(according  to  the  German  physiological  botanist  Sachs)  is 
always  in  immediate  relation  to  the  specific  combinations  that 
the  flower  has  developed  {realise)  for  the  purpose  of  fertilisa- 
tion by  insects.  They  visit  the  flowers  to  imbibe  the  nectar, 
by  which  they  are  nourished,  and  which  is  distilled  exclusively 
for  this  purpose."  M.  Bonnier  holds  t  that  "  the  greater  part 
of  the  accumulated  sugar  returns  to  the  plant  when  the  nectar 
loses  the  sugar  it  contained  [which  supervenes  when  the  fruit 
begins  to  grow].  ...  In  regard  to  the  floral  nectaries,  when 
the  sugar  disappears  from  the  nectariferous  tissue,  they  go  to 

*  Bunnier,  "  Les  Nectaires,"  Annates  des  Sciences  Naturelles  Botanique,  viii. 
1879,  pp.  1-212.  For  a  referaice  to  this  interesting  pa[)er  I  am  mucli 
indebted  to  Lord  Justice  F:y. 

t  *  Die  BefruclitiMj:  der  Blumen  durch  Insekten,'  [.eipzig,  1873,  p.  433. 

j  Loc.  cit.  I'.  1'j9, 


IN  SUMATRA.  227 


contribute  to  the  nourishment  of  the  young  fruit  and  young 
ovules ;  and,  in  regard  to  the  extrafloral  nectaries,  they  go  to 
the  development  of  the  neighbouring  organ."  The  chief 
visitors  and  fertilisers  of  the  S.  javanica  were  white  butterflies 
(Pieridae)  ;  but  I  was  unable  to  detect  them  sipping  from  the 
honey-cups ;  while  species  of  wasps  {Eumenes)  that  frequented 
them  occasionally  came  cautiously  from  below  to  sip  the  nectar, 
but  disregarded  the  flowers.  These  little  cups  were  not  confined 
to  the  neighbourhood  of  the  flowers,  but  were  arranged  abun- 
dantly on  the  leaves  and  on  the  stems  of  the  plant  as  well. 

Here  I  was  gratified  to  find  abundance  of  the  great  Arums, 
AmorpliophaUus  titanum,  of  which  I  have  already  spoken ;  * 
with  tubers  of  a  greater  size  than  any  I  had  seen  before,  some 
of  them,  indeed,  being  the  largest  yet  recorded.  The  greatest 
— measuring  in  circumference  six  feet  six  inches,  and  its  stem 
at  the  base  two  feet  seven  inches — formed,  on  its  removal 
from  the  ground,  a  load  for  twelve  men. 

A  striking  feature  also  of  the  forest  here  was  the  enormous 
results  of  the  activity  of  earth-worms.  The  whole  surface  of 
the  ground  was  as  rough  and  hummocky  as  a  newly-ploughed 
field.  A  tube  four  and  a  half  inches  in  circumference  and 
eight  inches  high  was  often  raised  in  a  single  night,  and  as,  in 
some  places,  there  were  as  many  as  ten  to  twelve  of  these  in 
a  square  yard,  it  becomes  evident  what  powerful  agents  they 
are  in  the  fertilisation  of  the  soil,  incessant  as  they  seem 
to  be  in  their  work  of  carrying  up  the  soil  from  below  and 
laying  it  down  on  the  surface,  burying  the  rotting  debris  of  the 
forest.  Insects  were  by  no  means  common.  Few  bees,  fewer 
beetles,  and  hardly  one  of  the  finer  forms  of  butterflies  were 
found  except  the  magnificent  Ornitlwptera  hrookeana,  whose 
favourite  resort  was  the  stones  that  cropped  out  above  the 
hot  water,  and  which  were  of  a  temperature  but  little  below 
130°  F.  This  butterfly  has  a  bar  of  the  richest  lake  dividing 
the  head  from  the  thorax ;  its  blue-black  wings  are  banded 
on  the  upper  side  with  the  most  sparkling  metallic  emerald, 
and  the  under  sides  slashed  with  metallic  green  and  blue, 
which  glittered  and  flashed  in  the  sunshine,  in  whose  brightest 
hours  alone  they  made  their  appearance. 

On  the  first  favourable  day,  accompanied  by  one  of  the 
*  Supra,  p.  175. 


228  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


chiefs  of  the  district,  I  started  for  the  crater  of  the  njountain. 
The  path  lay  through  a  very  gently  rising  stretch  of  forest, 
abounding  in  Zhosiigma  trees,  alternating  with  bamboo  clumps, 
but  with  almost  no  undergrowth,  except  low  grass  and  a  few 
herbs.  Where  the  mountain  began  to  ascend  more  steeply, 
we  entered  a  dense  thicket  of  tall  reedy  grass  and  fern  tangle, 
through  which  there  would  have  been  no  possibility  of  pro- 
gressing had  I  not  sent  men  on  several  days  before  to  make 
a  path.  So  tall  was  the  grass  that  merely  a  tunnel  could 
be  excavated  in  it,  through  which  we  half  walked  half  crept, 
aud  along  which  the  baggage  was  dragged  only  with  the 
utmost  difficulty.  Above  this  we  encountered  many  Tern- 
stroemacew,  with  large  white  and  rose-coloured  corollas,  scented 
laurel  (Tetranthera  citrata)  whose  sweet  perfume  filled  the 
air,  and  small  trees  called  by  the  natives  BaliJc-siimjM,  from 
whose  fruits  necklets  are  made  for  children  to  wear  as  charms. 
When  a  youth  and  a  maiden  have  plighted  their  troth  by  an 
oath,  or  indeed  made  any  oath  before  their  marriage,  they 
make  for  their  first  child  a  necklet  of  the  fruit  of  this 
tree,  in  order  that  no  harm  may  overtake  it  on  account 
of  their  oath ;  the  name  implies  "  Averter  of  the  oath." 
Above  this  the  mountain  presented  a  singular  appearance. 
With  the  exception  of  a  species  of  Pandan,  there  were  no  more 
trees  to  be  seen,  only  low  shrubs  of  a  pretty  species  of  honey- 
suckle, which  gave  the  mountain  the  appearance  of  being 
heather-clad,  thickly  interspersed  with  a  taller  species  of  pink 
Melastoma  with  a  profusion  of  immense  flowers  nearly  three 
inches  in  width,  giving  the  landscape  the  appearance  of  being 
set  with  wild  rose-trees.  These  fine  shrubs  accompanied  us 
quite  to  the  summit.  Just  about  their  commencement  the 
leeches  which  had  attacked  our  limbs  without  mercy  ceased  to 
be  found ;  on  the  Dempo  they  drew  the  line  at  7500  feet. 

A  large  humble-bee  {Bombus  senex)  was  busy  visiting  these 
]\Ielastoma-flowers,  and  I  watched  its  operations  with  the 
greatest  interest.  Each  flower  has  two  forms  of  stamens, 
short  and  long,  difl'ering  in  colour  and  shape.  The  short 
stamens  have  yellow  anthers,  a,  which  stand  out  from  the  middle 
of  the  flower,  and  are  very  conspicuous  ;  the  longer  stamens 
have  anthers,  a^,  approaching  in  colour  to  that  of  the  petals  form- 
ing their  background,  and  are  therefore  less  conspicious,  and 


IN  SUMATBA.  229 


they  have  a  singular  knee  extended  into  a  fork-like  projection,/, 

which  in  the  flower  lies  just  below  the  bright  yellow  anthers 

of  the  short  stamens.     The  lower  portion  of  the  long  stamens 

takes  a  backward  curve  from  the 

fork  carrying  the   pores   of  its 

anthers  far   from    those   of   the 

short    stamens.      This    arrange-  "^i^^^^^S/ 

ment  is  most  beautifully  adapted, 

as  was  first  pointed  out  by  Fritz 

]\[uller,  for  the  cross-fertilisation  FLo\vER(mAGRAMMATic)oFMELASTOMA. 

PI,  IN  SECTION. — 2>,  petal;  a',  antheu 

01   tne   plant.  of  shout  sTAJIENS  ;    /,  FORK  OF  I  ONG 

The    bees     invariablv     made     stamens;  o-,  anther  of  long  sta- 

.         ,        1-1  II  '  1      -•  JiENs;  c.  filament  OF  LONG  anther; 

tor  the   bright   yellow  j)lattorm     ^(,  stigma  of  i-istil  ;  s,  ovary. 
oifered   by    the  bunch   of  short 

stamens  (perhaps  because  they  do  not  perceive  from  a  distance 
the  pink  pistil  and  long  stamens  projected  against  the 
pink  corolla),  and  invariably  received  the  pistil  between  their 
legs,  their  feet  settling  also  on  the  adjoining  fork  of  the  long 
stamens.  The  instant  effect  of  this  is  to  collect  the  whole 
of  the  long  stamens  into  a  bunch,  and  to  depress  their  anthers 
downwards  and  away  from  the  body  of  the  bee,  while  the 
stigma  of  the  pistil  (wliich  hangs  down  close  to  the  pores 
of  the  long-stamened  anthers)  remains  in  constant  contact 
with  its  ventral  side.  At  the  moment  of  the  bee's  depar- 
ture, the  hooks  on  its  feet,  by  pulling  on  the  fork  of  the  long 
stamens,  raise  their  anthers,  bringing — now  that  there  is  no 
fear  of  producing  self- fertilisation  of  the  plant — their  tips  in 
a  collected  bunch  into  contact  with  its  sides  and  abdomen. 
Long  after  I  had  made  these  observations,  while  working  in  the 
laboratory  of  the  Buitenzorg  Gardens,  l>r.  Burc:k  pointed  out  to 
me  a  fact  of  consideralde  importance  which  I  was  able  to  verify 
for  myself,  that  there  was  in  very  closely  allied  species  of  this 
family  a  great  difference  in  the  shaj^e  of  the  pollen  of  the  two 
forms  of  anther ;  that  while  jwllen  of  lx)th  shapes  wiis  found  on 
the  pistil,  that  from  the  long  stamens  alone  seemed  fertile.  We 
could  not  detect  any  ixdlen  tubes  (which  are  emitted  when  the 
pollen  is  fecundating  the  plant)  emanating  from  the  pollen  of 
the  short-stamened  anthers. 

The  reason  why  some  organ  of  a  plant  or  animal  has  assumed, 
as  it  were,  an  abuovmal  form,  is  not  always  easy  to  discover ; 


230  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

but  we  may  feel  sure  that  a  change  of  form  indicates  a  corre- 
sponding change  of  function  ;  and  in  discovering  its  true 
raison  d'etre,  the  object  of  our  contemplation  is  invested 
with  a  halo  of  interest  which  it  could  not  otherwise  have 
possessed. 

The  yellow,  short-stamened  anthers  have  evidently  left  their 
ordinary  function  of  fecundation  to  become  an  enticing  food-bait 
to  attract  insects  to  the  flower,  while  the  long  stamens  have 
varied  in  form  to  secure  to  the  utmost  their  ordinary  function 
bv  insuring  that  their  pollen  shall  fecundate  not  their  own 
but  their  neighbour's  stigma.  This  result,  however,  would  be 
impossible  but  for  the  singularly  methodical  habits  which 
bees  have  of  visiting  in  a  long  sequence  the  same  species  of 
flowers.* 

How  fitly  jointed  together  all  nature  hangs  ! 

After  I  had  progressed  some  distance  on  the  morning  on  our 
way  up,  I  became  aware  of  two  men  following  us  who  were  not 
of  our  party.  On  inquiry  I  found  that  they  were  Ampat  Lawang 
men  iroins  to  the  mountain  to  invoke  the  Dewa.  One  carried  a 
white  pigeon  in  a  cage,  and  both  were  dressed  with  care  in  their 
best  garments.  On  arrival  at  my  hut,  they  adjourned  along 
with  my  guide  to  the  summit  overlooking  it.  Here  they 
burned  benzoin  incense  to  the  Dewa,  whom  they  should  have 
invoked  by  a  prayer,  but  as  none  of  them  could  "menhadji" 
this  part  of  the  ceremony  had  perforce  to  be  dispensed  with. 
Thereafter  they  made  their  way  to  the  Kaba  peak,  wliich  rose 
on  our  opposite  side  perpendicularly  out  of  the  crater.  There 
the  two  were  to  spend  the  night  in  the  open  air,  and  let 
loose  their  pigeon  as  an  offering  to  the  Dewa.  I  knew  that 
they  must  have  come  on  some  special  mission,  and  suspected 
that  the  younger  man  had  perhaps  set  his  heart  on  a  fair 
maiden,  and  desired  to  impress  the  deity  into  his  suit ;  or 
that  they  had  come  to  solicit  a  good  rice  crop  in  what  was  then 
an  almost  famine  time ;  or  that  sickness  or  some  grave  trouble 
oppressed  them  ;  but  on  inquiring  of  my  guide  the  specific 
reason,  I  found  that  they  were  earnestly  desirous  that  the 
Dewa  might  incline  the  heart  of  the  magistrate  of  their  district 
to  grant  them  leave  to  hold— a  cock-fighting  tournament ! 

The  hut  of  pandan  mats  which  I  had  sent  men  to  erect  close 
*   Cf.  Nature,  vol.  xxiv.  p.  307  ;  xxvi.  p.  386 ;  xxvii.  p.  30. 


IN  SUMATRA.  231 


to  the  summit  I  found  placed  but  a  few  yards  from  the  crater 
edge.  On  reaching  the  brink  the  first  look  quite  startled  me.  I 
stood  on  the  edge  of  a  sheer  precipice  600  or  700  feet  in  depth, 
looking  down  into  a  gigantic  unevenly-floored  pit  bounded 
by  perpendicular  walls  which  till  a  short  time  previously 
had  been  a  lake.  The  floor  was  of  a  deep  blue-black  colour, 
giving  vent  at  various  points  to  jets  of  steam.  From  this 
standpoint  it  seemed  that  there  was  no  possible  way  of  reaching 
the  crater  floor  than  by  leaping  over  the  precipice ;  but,  on 
proceeding  along  its  rim,  I  found  a  spot  where  the  cliffs  became 
considerably  lower.  This  less  elevated  wall  turned  out  to  be 
only  a  dividing  dyke  separating  the  western  from  another 
much  greater  and  more  irregular  eastern  crater,  into  which  I 
would  not  venture  to  descend,  as,  on  probing  its  floor,  it 
treacherously  gave  way  under  the  weight  of  our  feet.  ]n  the 
ugly  rents  and  chasms  athwart  it,  and  in  the  great  unsightly 
blocks  of  stone  furiously  piled  up  against  each  other  in  all 
directions,  giving  issue  between  them  to  steam  and  foetid 
vapours,  it  was  not  inviting.  'Vo  reach  the  western  floor  we 
descended  a  declivity  of  some  TO'^,  scrambling  sometimes  on 
hands  and  feet  sometimes  sliding  on  our  heels,  not  without  an 
eerie  feeling,  for,  though  all  looked  still  and  quiet,  there  was 
a  continuous  and  awesome  sound,  waxing  and  waning  like  an 
angry  sea  breaking  on  a  shingly  shore.  The  whole  surface 
was  covered  with  a  layer  of  black  sand  and  irregular  fragments 
of  stone,  many  of  them  of  great  size  and  weight,  chipped  and 
indented  by  the  impact  of  others  falling  on  them.  The  lake, 
which  a  few  years  before  filled  it,  had  disappeared.  The  soil 
was  quite  porous,  and  on  the  surface  unpleasantly  hot  to 
the  hand,  but  further  down  candescent  enough  to  scorch  my 
walking-stick  thrust  into  it ;  from  the  whole  surface  vapours 
gently  emanated,  leaving  variously  coloured  deposits.  At  one 
spot  several  great  cauldrons  were  in  fierce  ebullition,  emitting 
steam,  with  a  roar  like  some  cyclopean  engine  blowing  off  power 
which  the  walls  resolved  into  the  sound  of  a  surf-beaten  shore  ; 
and  besides,  vapour,  sand,  water,  and  white  and  rich  chrome 
coloured  muds,  tinged  with  alum  and  sulphur. 

Three  years  had  elapsed  since  its  previous  eruption  had  ceased 
and  six  since  it  had  commenced.  Before  that  time  it  had  been 
quiescent  since  about  1833.    The  whole  country  for  twenty  miles 


232  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDEIilNGS 


round  had  been  covered  with  volcanic  dust,  and  even  at  the 
time  of  my  visit  the  soil  of  the  banks  of  the  Kliugi  at  fifteen 
miles  off  was  so  charged  with  noxious  substances  that,  when 
portions  fell  in  during  heavy  rains,  numbers  of  fish  died 
from  its  effect  on  the  water.  The  mountain  itself  was  every- 
where covered  with  a  sheet  of  black  sand  ;  and  above  the  belt 
of  grass  and  ferns  I  have  mentioned,  no  trees  had  survived 
— everywhere  their  dead  trunks  stood  erect,  or  lay  prostrate 
on  the  bleak  blasted  ground.  On  such  a  gigantic  scale  aud 
so  proportionate  is  the  whole  scene  that  one  fails  to  realise  the 
vast  dimensions  of  the  caverns  ;  and  it  is  only  when  the  eye — 
viewing  from  the  summit  and  comparing  with  the  littleness 
of  a  human  figure  the  blocks  of  stone  and  the  huge  ejected 
rocks,  which  seem  but  the  small  atoms  of  which  the  scene  is 
composed — pauses  to  estimate  its  vast  walls  and  its  enormous 
stretch  from  rim  to  rim,  that  some  comprehension  is  attained 
of  the  immensity  of  the  powers  that  have  been  at  work  and 
tbe  effects  they  have  produced. 

In  many  places,  extending  over  a  wide  area  in  an  easterly 
direction,  steam  could  be  seen  issuing  from  the  ground  ;  and  at 
one  spot  on  the  crest  of  the  Biring  peak  vapours  were  issuing 
from  rents  which  must  have  been  but  a  few  weeks  old,  as  the 
grass  in  their  neighbourhood  had  not  entirely  disappeared, 
though  it  was  brown  and  yellow.  In  many  places,  too,  could 
be  seen  large  dismal  areas  and  mounds  of  black  sand,  ejected 
in  recent  eruptions  or  upbursts. 

The  most  prominent  feature  of  the  landscape  on  the  upper 
portion  of  the  mountain  was  certainly  the  Pandans,  which, 
though  but  sparsely  dotted  about,  reared  their  lean  ungainly 
stems  and  sparse  tufted  foliage  prominently  above  the  shrubs 
and  other  bushes,  and,  combined  in  the  view  with  numerous 
spots  blasted  by  volcanic  action,  gave  a  dreariness  and  a 
feeling  of  desolation  to  the  scenery  of  the  Kaba  which  the 
great  beauty  of  the  Melastoma,  which  will  always  remain 
associated  with  it  in  my  recollection,  could  not  redeem. 

From  the  Kaba  I  directed  my  course  towards  the  upper 
reaches  of  the  Musi  river  ;  but  the  obtaining  of  transport  was 
very  difficult,  as  there  was  almost  nobody  but  women  left  in 
the  district,  all  the  men  having  gone  away  to  labour  in  Palem- 
bano-  and  other  centres  to  earn  rice,  which  had  so  failed  in 


IN  SUMATRA.  233 


their  own  district.  The  poor  people  had  sold  all  their  saleable 
goods,  and  were  then  many  of  them  living  in  the  deep  forest, 
feeding  on  fruits  and  green  herbs,  and  making  sago  from 
the  Areng  palm ;  or  in  search  of  rattan  and  halam  (their  name 
for  the  various  species  of  gum-elastic  and  gutta-percha),  to 
exchange  for  rice  in  Palembang,  whence  all  their  supplies  had 
to  be  brought — a  twenty  to  thirty  or  more  days'  laborious 
pole  up  the  river.  They  were  besides  all  so  very  weak  from 
spare  diet  that  we  had  to  arrange  the  baggage  in  small  bundles 
and  employ  a  larger  number.  Our  road  lay  at  first  south-east 
alone:  the  Klino-i,  and  then  northward  across  the  tributaries 
of  the  Lakitan,  to  the  village  of  Suka-Radja,  on  the  Rupit 
river,  where  I  spent  a  few  profitable  weeks. 

Here  I  obtained  an  interesting  bird,  a  green  species  of  Spider- 
eater — an  elegant  genus  with  long  curved  bill — flitting  about 
near  the  ground  on  the  rocky  pavement.  On  dissection  I 
found  its  stomach  to  contain,  besides  insects  and  the  seeds  of 
Scitaminess,  a  waxy  substance.  The  natives  say  that  it  feeds  on 
the  flowers  of  the  Scitaminex  that  bloom  on  the  surface  of  the 
ground.  These  are  most  of  them  of  very  bright  colours,  and 
grow  in  deep  shade  where  few  insects  are  to  be  found,  and  it  is 
very  probable  that  the  grateful  office  of  cross-fertilisation  is  per- 
formed for  them  by  the  Spider-eater  and  other  birds.  The  most 
remarkable  feature  of  the  forests  here  was  an  immensely  tali 
thick  tree  called  by  the  natives  Sekawang  (?  Bassia,  sp.),  whose 
scarlet  flowers  keep  falling,  during  the  two  or  three  weeks  of 
its  blossoming  time,  in  one  incessant  rain,  covering  the  ground 
with  a  deep  scarlet  carpet,  so  deep  that  hundreds  of  bushels 
might  be  gathered,  from  which  a  peculiar  and  very  oppressive 
but  not  disagreeable  odour  emanates. 

Here  I  made  my  first  acquaintance  with  the  Kuhus,  a  race 
of  whom  I  had  heard  much  in  the  southern  parts  of  my 
journey  as  a  wild  tribe  living  houseless  in  the  forests,  covered 
with  hair,  and  altogether  so  peculiar  a  people  as  to  be  famous 
far  from  their  own  regions.  As  I  approached  nearer  to  their 
haunts  the  exaggerated  tales  about  them  became  reduced 
nearer  to  the  bounds  of  truth ;  but  still  then  little  reliable 
information  could  be  obtained ;  so  that  it  was  with  extreme 
satisfaction  that  I  learned  one  day  that  in  their  wanderings,  a 
small  company  of  them   had  come  into    the   neighbourhood. 


234 


A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


to  whom  I  sent  the  head  of  the  village  to  call  them  to  speak 
with  me. 

The  Kubus  are  a  small  tribe  of  people  inhabiting  the  central 
parts  of  Sumatra,  and  it  has  been  claimed  by  some  for  them 
that  they  are  the  remnants  of  the  pristine  indigenes  of  the 
country. 

My  first  introduction  was  to  two  men,  one  woman,  and  one 
child ;  shortly  afterwards,  however,  at  Surulangun,*  through 
the  kind  assistance  of  Mr.  Kamp,  the  Controller  of  the  district. 


A   KrBU   MAN  AND   WOMAN,   SKETCHED   IN   THE    VILLAGE   OF   KOTTA-RADJA. 

I  was  able  to  examine  a  considerable  number  of  these  people,  to 
collect  some  information  about  them,  and  to  obtain  one  cranium 
and,  after  considerable  difficulty,  one  complete  skeleton. 

The  Kubus  are  a  nomadic  race  wandering  about  in  the 
forests  on  the  borders  of  the  Jambi  Sultanate  and  of  the  Palem- 
bang  Residency,  along  the  banks  and  affluents  of  the  great 
rivers,  the  JMusi  and  the  Batang  Hari.  The  Dutch  Govern- 
ment some  years  ago  began  the  attempt  to  teach  these  people 
the  rudiments  of  the  art  of  agriculture,  and  have  after  much 


*  See  below,  page  240. 


IN  "SUMATRA.  235 


difficulty  succeeded  in  getting  a  few  families  in  several 
districts  to  assume  in  some  degree  a  settled  residence  in 
villages  made  for  themselves.  It  was  owing  to  these  partially 
civilised  communities  that  I  am  indebted  for  a  sight  of  the 
people  I  met  at  Surulangun. 

In  their  wild  state  they  live  in  the  deep  forest,  making 
temjiorary  dwellings,  if  their  rude  shelters  can  be  called  such,  in 
which  they  st;iy  for  a  few  days  at  a  time,  where  food  is  obtain- 
able, or  for  the  purpose  of  collecting  beeswax,  dammar,  and 
gutta-percha.  Their  dwellings  are  a  few  simple  branches 
erected  over  a  low  platform  to  keep  them  from  the  ground,  and 
thatched  with  banana-  or  palm-leaves.  They  are  so  timorous 
and  shy  that  it  is  a  rare  circumstance  for  any  one  to  see  them, 
and  of  course  an  extremely  rare  one  for  any  Avhite  man.  In 
fact,  I  doubt  if  any  white  man  has  ever  seen  the  uninfluenced 
Ivubu,  save  as  one  sees  the  hind-quarters  of  a  startled  deer.  In 
the  small  trade  carried  on  between  them  and  the  Malay  traders 
of  the  Palembang  and  Jambi  Residencies,  the  transactions  are 
performed  without  the  one  party  seeing  the  other.  The  Malay 
trader,  ascending  to  one  of  their  places  of  rendezvous,  beats  a 
gong  in  a  particular  way  to  give  notice  of  his  arrival.  On 
hearing  the  signal,  the  Kubus,  bringing  out  what  forest  produce 
they  may  have  collected,  and  depositing  it  on  the  ground  at 
this  place,  hastily  retire  into  close  hiding,  beating  a  gong  as  a 
signal  that  all  is  ready.  The  trader  then  slowly  and  cautiously 
approaches,  lays  down  on  the  ground  the  cloth,  knives,  and 
other  articles  of  barter  he  has  brought,  to  the  amount  which 
he  considers  an  equivalent  exchange,  beats  a  gong  and  in  like 
manner  disappears.  The  Kubus  proceed  then  to  examine  the 
barter  offered ;  if  they  think  the  bargain  satisfoctory  they 
remove  the  goods,  beat  their  gong  and  go  away ;  while  the 
trader  packs  up  the  produce  he  finds  left  lying  on  the  ground. 
If  the  bargain  is  not  considered  by  them  sufficiently  advan- 
tageous, they  set  on  one  side  a  portion  of  their  produce,  to 
reduce  it  to  what  they  consider  the  value  of  the  barter  offered ; 
and  thus  the  affair  see-saws  till  finally  adjusted  or  abandoned. 
They  are  so  afraid  of  seeing  any  one  not  of  their  own  race  that, 
if  suddenly  met  or  come  up  with  in  the  forest,  they  will  drop 
everything  and  flee  away.  They  cultivate  nothing  for  them- 
selves, but  live  entirely  on  the  products  of  the  forest — snakes, 


236  A   NATUBALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

lizards,  grubs,  fruits,  an  occasional  deer,  pig,  or  tapir,  which 
a  bappy  effort  has  rewarded  them  with — and  what  they  pur- 
chase by  barter  from  Malays.  They  know  nothing  of  art ;  they 
manufacture  absolutely  nothing.  Their  knives  and  the  univer- 
sal spear  with  which  they  are  armed  are  purchased  from  the 
Malays  with  whom  they  trade.  Neither  men  nor  women  wear 
clothes,  except  the  small  T-bandage  of  bark-cloth ;  some  even 
go  entirely  in  a  state  of  nature.  Where  European  influence  is 
beginning  to  have  its  modifying  effect — and  where  is  it  not 
now  felt  in  some  measure  ? — calico  coverings  such  as  modesty 
demands  are  worn.  They  keep  in  confinement  a  few  birds 
occasionally,  and  a  species  of  dog  of  moderate  size  generally 
accompanies  them.  They  will  scarcely  touch  water  for  ablu- 
tionary  purposes,  and  have  consequently  a  strong,  unpleasant 
odour ;  and  a  small  stream  which  they  cannot  cross  by  prau 
or  by  stepping-stones  is  often  a  barrier  to  their  journey. 

On  approaching  the  steps  of  the  hut  in  which  I  was  living, 
my  first  acquaintances  made  a  bashful  salutation  with  the  hand 
in  the  awkward  way  of  children,  advancing  with  open  eyes  full 
of  wonder  and  curiosity  more  marked  in  the  woman's  face  than 
in  her  companion's,  she  being  evidently  less  accustomed  to  see 
other  than  her  own  people.  They  rarely  come  into  the  villages, 
the  villagers  always  seeking  them  out  in  order  to  buy  from 
them  their  forest-gathered  produce.  The  chief  who  went  to 
induce  them  to  visit  me  had  to  assure  them  that  I  did  not 
wish  to  make  them  take  up  their  residence  in  a  village,  or  to 
compel  them  to  cultivate  rice  fields. 

The  colour  of  their  skin  was  a  rich  olive  brown  ;  while  their 
hair  always  in  a  dishevelled  state,  was  jet  black,  inclined  to 
curl.  It  was  certainly  less  straight  than  that  of  the  village 
Malays,  but  it  may  be  that  this  curling  is  the  result  of  want 
of  attention,  and  of  its  becoming  matted  and  twisted.  The 
woman's  hair  was  straighter  than  the  men's.  Her  features  were 
what  I  might  call  Mongolian,  in  contrast  to  her  companion's, 
which  I  might  designate  as  more  conforming  to  the  Malayan 
type  about  them.  The  child  might  have  been  a  very  dark- 
complexioned  Italian  or  a  dark  Arabian.  Her  features  are  re- 
presented very  truthfully  on  page  234.  Both  men  had  a  slight 
moustache,  and  a  few  hairs  on  the  chin.  What  struck  me  most 
in  them  was  their  extreme  submissiveness,  their  want  of  inde- 


IN  SUMATRA.  237 


pendence  and  will ;  they  seemed  too  meek  ever  to  act  on  the 
offensive.  One  cannot  help  feeling  that  they  are  harmless 
overgrown  children  of  the  woods.  Within  the  memory  of  the 
chief  of  the  village  in  which  I  first  met  these  Kubus,  have  they 
only  come  to  possess  a  sense  of  shame ;  formerly  tliey  knew 
none,  and  vvere  the  derision  of  the  villagers  into  whose  neigh- 
bourhood they  might  come. 

Rain  having  fallen  very  heavily  in  the  north-west  hills  for 
some  time,  the  path  across  country  to  the  borders  of  Djambi 
was  rendered  so  impassable,  that  it  became  necessary  for  me 
to  descend  the  Rupit  to  its  junction  with  the  Rawas  river 
at  Muara  Rupit,  and  then  ascend  the  latter  by  a  road  fol- 
lowing the  river  for  a  great  part  of  the  way — a  far  longer 
journey.  I  had  therefore  a  couple  of  substantial  rafts  made, 
in  one  of  which  I  had  fitted  a  covered  seat,  with  a  long  raised 
platform  behind  it  on  which  to  prepare  a  herbarium,  as  the 
river  traversed  much  virgin  forest  specimens  of  which  my 
mode  of  travel  would  enable  me  to  collect  and  arrange  while 
sailing  down.  The  river  below  the  village  was  broad,  and, 
except  at  a  few  places,  of  considerable  depth. 

1  started  early  on  the  25th  of  October,  just  as  the  sun 
was  tipping  the  trees,  streaming  through  the  morning  mist 
changing  it  into  a  golden  haze.  High  overhead  the  pale 
blue  of  the  sky  betokened  a  bright  sunny  day.  The  morning 
was  delightfully  fresh  and  invigorating  ;  even  the  phlegmatic 
Malay  felt  it  so,  for  the  men  who  piloted  my  rafts  pranced 
on  their  poles  as  they  shoved  along,  and  when  they  came  to 
spots  where  more  vigorous  exertion  had  to  be  put  forth, 
they  shouted  and  hallooed  in  the  exuberance  of  their  spirits. 
Nothing  could  be  more  pleasant  than  our  gentle  gliding 
down,  enjoying  without  fatigue  the  ever-varying  pictures 
presented  at  each  bend  of  the  river — its  abrupt  corners,  its 
deep  rotating  frothy  pools  ;  now  the  shade  of  some  stupendous 
tree,  now  the  shooting  an  arch  of  some  half-fallen  giant 
busked  with  pendant  ferns  and  orchidaceous  Vandas.  Verv 
many  trees  were  in  flower  and  fruit — in  fact  till  then  for 
several  years  there  had  been  little  blossom — tall  Melettias 
hung  with  immense  pods,  and  wihl  Nutmeg  trees  with  their 
pretty  drop-like  fruits.  Tlie  oaks  were  one  mass  of  white 
inflorescense,  and  formed  a  characteristic  feature  of  the 
17 


238  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

vegetation  of  the  banks ;  while  bushy  Sterculiaceous  trees 
made  a  greater  show  of  colour  in  the  rich  pink  of  their  young 
foliage  and  in  the  bright  scarlet  of  their  fruits  than  in  their 
inconspicuous  flowers.  Between  these  more  outstanding  trees, 
dark-foliaged  figs  and  slender  bamboos  gracefully  bending  over 
the  bank,  filled  up  the  ranks  shoulder  to  shoulder.  Tall  Sialang 
trees,  with  lightning-conductor-like  stairs  ujd  their  white  stems, 
by  which  the  wild  bees'  nests  are  reached,  and  the  Pangiums 
bearing  GOO  to  700  brown  velvety  fruits  each  several  pounds 
in  weio-ht,  so  that  one  marvels  that  the  branches  are  able  to 
sustain  the  load — marked  the  vicinity  of  villages.  Here  and 
there  a  stately  tree  which  had  been  left  unmolested  in  their 
fields  exhibited  the  grandeur  of  stem  and  crown  that  an 
Ancient  of  the  forest  can  attain  unto.  Every  lifeless  stem,  to 
the  very  tips  of  its  withered  arms  was  festooned  with  dark- 
foliaged  climbers,  yellow  and  purple  Pajyilionacese  and  Con- 
volvulacex,  like  the  grotesque  shrubbery  cut  out  of  boxwood, 
but  with  all  the  natural  grace  which  is  conspicuously  wanting 
in  Dutch  gardens.  No  tree,  however,  was  more  abundant  or 
brighter  than  the  Lagerstroemia,  whose  fine  red  tops  could  be 
seen  a  long  way  off.  Every  now  and  then  a  creaking  sound 
came  up  the  water  catching  the  ear  like  the  subdued  screech 
of  a  buffalo  cart,  produced  by  the  monotonous  turning  of  a 
laree  bamboo  waterwheel  fixed  where  the  banks  of  the  river 
were  high,  to  lift  water  into  the  adjacent  rice-fields  by  bamboo 
buckets  fixed  at  intervals  in  a  lateral  direction  to  their  paddles. 
Wat-er  birds  of  many  species,  and  kingfishers  in  cobalt  plu- 
mage, were  constantly  darting  about,  roused  from  their  hunting 
grounds  by  our  passing,  many  of  which  were  honoured  with 
a  place  in  my  collection.  In  addition  to  the  ever-changing 
forms  of  the  vegetation  and  the  varied  bird  and  insect  life  that 
flitted  from  side  to  side,  there  was  no  lack  of  human  interest  in 
the  scenes.  Now  it  was  a  skiff  with  flashing  oars  with  a 
chattering  load  of  women  and  girls  with  their  baskets  on  their 
way  to  the  fields  ;  now  a  village  crowd  in  their  many  coloured 
sarongs,  clustered  on  the  rocks  or  under  the  shade  of  some 
broad  fig  to  see  our  flotilla  pass  by ;  here  it  was  a  patient 
plyer  of  the  gentle  art  by  a  rippling  bend ;  there  a  crowd  of 
women  in  a  shingly  corner  in  their  broad  sun  hats  and  blue 
gowns  washing  the  sand  for  gold. 


IN  SUM  ATS  A,  239 


The  recent  rains  had  produced  a  flood — the  greatest,  it  was 
said,  for  five  years — which  had  risen  from  ten  to  twelve  feet 
above  its  ordinary  mark.  Throughout  a  distance  of  from  thirty 
to  forty  miles  it  had  carried  away  pieces  of  the  bank  from  three 
to  five  yards  wide  and  from  eight  to  ten  feet  deep.  In  these 
new  sections  large  trees  (stems  and  branches)  had  become  ex- 
posed, buried  more  than  six  feet  below  the  surface  of  the  sur- 
roundino;  land.  These  sections  showed  the  soil  resting'  on  a 
deep  band  of  clay,  which  in  turn  was  lying  on  a  thick  stratum 
of  shingle,  which  was  being  again  washed  out,  to  be  subjected 
to  fresh  attrition  after  having  rested  for  many  cycles.  Below 
the  confluence  of  the  River  Tiku,  which  rises  among  the  Pale- 
ozoic rocks  in  the  Redjang  region  a  considerable  quantity  of 
gold  is  found  when  the  river  is  very  low,  caught  among  the 
stones,  larger  pebbles  and  sand.  This  sand  is  collected — the 
occupation  mostly  of  the  older  women — and,  when  freed  from 
the  larger  particles,  goes  by  the  name  of  hungin  ;  the  bungin 
is  washed  in  a  broad  cone-shaped  vessel  of  wood — the  diiJang 
— by  a  rotatory  motion,  till  only  an  extremely  fine  heavy  black 
sand  (kalam)  is  left.  The  kalam,  which  contains  the  gold  is 
then  rotated  in  the  dulang  with  a  little  water  till  tlie  heavier 
metal  falls  to  the  apex  of  the  cone,  whence  it  is  carefully 
removed.  A  very  successful  day's  washing  in  this  fashion  will 
bring  only  Is.  8cl. 

With  a  halt  of  one  night  at  the  village  of  Ambatjang,  so 
called  from  an  old  large  and  symmetrical  tree  of  that  name 
(Mangifera  foetida)  growing  in  the  village,  then  in  magni- 
ficent blossom,  I  reached  Muara-Rupit  at  the  confluence  of 
the  Rawas  river,  on  the  afternoon  of  the  second  day.  Muara- 
Rupit,  to  the  Ulu  men  from  among  whom  I  had  come,  is  a 
great  place  which  perhaps  some  day  fate  may  permit  them  to 
visit.  To  have  been  to  Muara-Rupit  from  the  Ulu  country 
is  to  have  gained  a  certain  precedence  amongst  their  tellow 
villagers,  while  to  have  been  to  Palembang,  a  to-and-fro  jour- 
ney of  six  weeks,  is  to  have  seen  the  world !  This  place  is 
the  seat  of  a  great  trade ;  everything  from  the  coast  for  the 
Rupit  and  the  country  watered  by  its  tributaries,  and  for  the 
Rawas  and  its  tributaries  up  to  the  Djambi  country,  is  brought 
to  Muara-Rui)it,  whither  can  come  a  small  steamer  able  to 
carry  a  company  of  troops.     I  was  consequently  not  surprised 


240  A   NATURALISTS    WANDERINGS 

on  finding  a  broad,  deep  river,  with  a  fleet  of  Palembang  praus 
at  anchor,  and  of  rakits  loaded,  or  lying  to  be  filled  up  with 
gutta-percha,  rattan,  and  buifaloes  for  the  Palembang  market. 

From  Muara-Kupit  I  proceeded  to  Surulangun,  along  a  good 
road  following  the  Rawas  river,  under  a  continuous  shade  of  tall 
Durian  trees  from  thirty-five  to  forty  feet  high — a  growth  of  ten 
years.  The  road  was  carpeted  throughout  its  length  with  their 
flowers,  which  were  dropping  off  in  vast  numbers.  In  the  flower- 
ing time  it  was  a  most  pleasant  shady  road  ;  but  later  in  the 
season  the  chance  of  a  fruit  now  and  then  descending  on  one's 
head  would  be  less  agreeable.*  At  every  village  I  passed,  I  was 
respectfully  received  by  the  chiefs ;  and  at  several  places  they 
were  accompanied  by  the  youths  and  maidens,  who  were 
formed  to  right  and  left  of  the  way  attended  by  a  band,  while 
a  table  loaded  with  fruits,  sweetmeats  and  coffee,  barred  the 
road,  of  which  in  order  to  gratify  them  I  had  to  dismount  and 
partake.  This  band  played  me  to  the  boundaries  of  the 
next  village,  where  another  was  waiting  to  convoy  us  through 
their  region. 

At  Surulangun,  the  residence  of  Mr.  Kamp  the  genial  Magis- 
trate of  the  district,  enjoying  his  bountiful  hospitality,  and  the 
companionship  of  the  commandant  of  a  small  garrison  quartered 
there  for  the  protection  of  the  district  against  the  Djambi 
people,  several  most  pleasant  days  were  passed.  These  hostile 
neighbours  make  not  infrequent  raids  on  the  villages  to  carry 
off  their  herds,  covering  their  departure  by  maliciously  plant- 
ing the  roads  with  short  sharp  bamboo  spikes,  invisible  till 
wounds  are  received. 

Here  I  had  the  satisfaction  of  again  examining,  through  Mr. 
Kamp's  kind  aid,  a  considerable  assemblage  of  Kubus  of  both 
sexes.  Several  of  them  it  would  have  been  impossible  to  tell 
from  the  people  of  the  surrounding  villages  from  their  features ; 
on  the  other  hand,  there  were  peculiarities  scarcely  reducible 
to  words,  by  which  they  could  have  been  picked  out  among 
a  crowd  of  Malays.  I  tried  to  formulate  the  differences,  but 
found  myself  almost  unable  to  say  exactly  wherein  they  con- 
sisted.    The  high  (between  the  eyes)  straight  dorsum  of  the 

*  Of  this  fruit  the  natives  are  passionately  fond  ;  and  Mr.  Wallace  writes 
it  is  worth  a  vi>yac:e  to  the  East  to  taste ;  and  the  elephants  flock  to  its  shade 
in  the  fiuiting  lime ;  but,  more  singular  still,  the  tiger  is  said  to  devour  it 
with  aviditv.  ■ 


7i\r  SUMATRA.  241 


nose  in  a  few  was  remarkable ;  and  the  sharply  prominent 
cheek-bones.  The  villagers  asserted  that  they  could  tell  a 
footprint  in  the  mud  of  a  Knbii  from  that  of  their  own  people. 
I  caused  several  of  them  to  walk  over  sheets  of  paper 
after  rubbing  the  soles  of  their  feet  with  soot,  but  I  could 
not  discover,  either  in  the  shape  of  the  foot  or  in  its  print, 
any  divergence  from  that  of  the  people  about  them.  The 
lips  of  the  Kubus  were  thin,  and  the  eyes  restless  and  glancing, 
as  if  ever  on  the  alert.  The  average  height  of  seven  males  was 
1*59  metres,  and  of  five  females  1'49  metres,  which  is  about 
the  average  stature  of  the  Malays  of  Malacca.  On  comparing 
the  impress  of  their  hands  with  those  of  the  peoj^le  of  the  dis- 
trict, those  of  the  Kubus  I  found  to  be  smaller.  They  are,  I 
also  observed,  ratlier  subject  to  reduplication  of  the  fingers. 

They  are  said  to  have  a  language  of  their  own  unintelligible 
to  their  neighbours,  but  I  failed  to  induce  them  to  give  me 
any  specimen  of  it,  if  it  existed.  I  could  not  understand  their 
speech  at  first ;  but  after  some  conversation  I  could  detect 
that  they  really  spoke  a  corrupted  Malay  with  a  peculiar 
accentuation. 

Monogamy  is  the  rule  among  them  ;  but  a  few  have  two  or 
more  wives.  Their  nuptial  ceremony  is  a  very  simple  a€air. 
The  man  having  fixed  his  choice  on  a  girl,  and  obtained 
the  consent  of  her  parents  to  his  suit,  brings  to  her  ftither  such 
gifts  as  he  has — a  knife,  a  spear,  cloths,  or  money  (if  he  has 
any),  dammar,  and  beeswax — and  such  rare  fruits  of  the  forest 
or  favourite  food-animals  as  may  reward  his  search.  When 
this  gift  is  satisfactorily  large,  those  who  may  be  within  reach 
are  called  together.  Seating  themselves  below  a  tree,  the 
father  of  the  maiden  informs  them  that  he  has  given  his 
daughter  So-and-so  to  So-and-so  in  marriage.  One  of  the 
company  then  strikes  the  tree  under  which  they  sit  several 
times  with  a  club,  proclaiming  them  to  be  man  and  wife.  The 
ceremony  is  followed  by  such  feast  as  can  be  provided,  princi- 
pally out  of  the  fruits  and  animals  the  bridegroom  has  paid 
for  his  wife  with. 

It  is  a  rare  thing  for  a  ^falay  man  to  marry  a  Kubu  woman  ; 
Vmt  it  occasionally  happens,  notwithstanding  that  they  consider 
the  Kubus  far  their  inh-riors,  a  position  which  the  latter  seem 
to  accept  with  very  marked  submissiveness.      "You  Kubu!" 


242  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

is  a  term  of  opprobrium  which  I  have  often  heard  applied  by 
one  native  to  another  with  whom  he  had  quarrelled.  The 
village  people  consider  them  little  other  than  beasts.  In  no 
case  will  a  Malay  touch  or  interfere  with  a  dead  body  of  one 
of  his  people ;  yet  I  was  able  to  obtain  their  assistance  in  dis- 
interring the  body  of  the  Kubu  from  which  I  made  the  skeleton 
that  I  obtained.  The  Kubus  possess  no  personal  property  of 
any  kind  beyond  what  they  can  carry  about  with  them.  Their 
food,  which  consists  for  the  most  part  of  wild  fruits  or  small 
animals.,  which  they  prefer,  I  am  told,  in  a  semi-putrid  condition, 
they  eat  as  they  come  by  it,  with  little  or  no  cooking.  When 
traversing  the  forest,  if  one  of  them,  on  finding  a  bee-infested 
or  a  dammar-yielding  tree,  clear  the  brush  around  it,  make  one 
or  two  hacks  in  the  bark,  and  repeat  a  form  of  spell,  it  is 
recognised  by  the  others  as  his  possession,  which  will  be  un- 
disputed. This  is  the  only  property,  if  such  it  may  be  called, 
that  they  possess. 

They  are  extremely  fond  of  tobacco.  Before  one  of  them, 
who  had  seated  himself  on  the  edge  of  the  verandah,  I  pro- 
duced some  of  the  coveted  weed.  It  was  a  study  to  see  how 
his  face  gleamed  over,  and  his  eyes  followed  the  parcel  with 
the  eagerness  of  a  dog's  after  a  bone  with  which  he  is  tempted. 
To  try  him,  a  handful  of  very  poor  quality  was  offered  him, 
Avhich  he  snatched  at,  but,  after  smelling  and  tasting  it,  he 
rejected  it  with  a  sneer  just  as  a  monkey  might  have  done, 
fixing  his  eyes  eagerly  once  more  on  the  bundle  first  produced. 
Some  of  this  was  handed  to  him,  the  whole  of  which,  after 
smelling,  he  rolled  into  a  thick  cigarette  in  a  leaf,  and  smoked 
with  prodigious  mouthfuls  in  perfect  and  delighted  silence. 
When  he  saw  or  was  offered  anything  which  he  liked  par- 
ticularly, his  eyes  sparkled,  and  he  expressed  his  eagerness 
by  the  continued  repetition  of  a  peculiar  sound,  "  S-s-ho-o  ! 
S-s-ho-o  I "  Some  fruit  and  a  large  plateful  of  rice,  offered 
to  him,  were  devoured  more  in  the  ravenous  manner  of  a  beast 
than  of  a  man.  When  he  had  finished  it  he  rubbed  his  stomach, 
to  judge  by  its  rotundity  if  he  had  had  sufficient. 

Their  intelligence  is  not,  however,  to  be  called  of  a  low  order. 
They  evince  considerable  dexterity  in  the  use  of  their  sjiears, 
and  are  wonderfully  accurate  marksmen  with  stones.  They 
post  themselves  behind  some  tree,  in  front  of  which  is  another 


IN  SUMATRA.  24 J 


whereiu  birds  are  lodged,  and  thence  discharge  the  stone  over 
the  one  that  hides  them,  so  as  to  drop  on  the  bird  in  the  other. 
When  sick  they  nse  various  leaves  from  which  they  make 
decoctions ;  but  their  curative  pharmacopoeia  is  very  limited. 
I  could  not  discover  that  they  knew  many  poisons,  but  they 
were  best  acquainted  with  such  plants  as  possessed  aphrodisiac 
qualities,  or  were  able  to  cause  abortion. 

In  their  truly  wild  state  they  leave  their  dead  unburied  in 
the  spot  where  they  died,  giving  the  place  ever  after  a  wide 
berth;  but  where  the  influence  of  the  villao;e  customs  has 
begun  to  affect  them,  the  body  is  now  generally  buried  face 
downward,  with  a  strip  of  bark  below  and  above  the  body. 
They  seem  to  have  no  idea  of  a  state  after  death  :  "  When  we 
are  dead,  we  are  dead." 

They  have  a  tradition  that  they  are  the  descendants  of  the 
younger  of  three  brothers  :  the  two  elder  were  circumcised  in 
the  usual  Avay  :  the  younger  it  was  found  no  instruments  would 
circumcise,  a  circumstance  which  so  ashamed  him  that  he 
betook  himself  to  the  woods  to  live,  and  "  We  are  his  descend- 
ants," they  told  me. 

Leading  so  nomadic  a  life,  the  jurisdiction  that  can  be 
exercised  by  any  one  over  them  can  be  but  very  slight.  Such 
as  it  is,  it  is  wielded  by  the  elders  of  the  party,  who  settle 
disputes  that  arise  between  man  and  man,  and  impose  punish- 
ments for  offences. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  Kubus  differ  much  in  their  habits 
and  ways  of  life  from  those  about  them  ;  but  whether  they  are 
the  last  survivors  of  their  race,  or  are  only  a  straggling  rem- 
nant, kin  to  those  about  them,  who  at  some  past  time  were 
driven  from  below  the  family  rooftree  to  save  their  lives  in  the 
forest  fastness,  and  who,  even  when  persecution  has  ceased,  yet 
cling  to  the  shade  of  those  pillars  which  in  their  need  afforded 
them  the  kindly  refuge  they  sought,  are  questions  on  which 
the  osteological  evidence  must  be  appealed  to.  Dr.  G  arson 
finds  that  the  antero-posterior  length  in  comparison  to  the 
transverse  breadth  of  the  brim  in  my  Kubu  woman's  pelvis  is  ex- 
treme ;  "  indeed  I  have  never,"  he  remarks,  "  seen  or  measured 
a  pelvis  of  so  exaggerated  a  type,  approaching  in  form  nearly 
to  that  of  the  anthropomorphous  apes;  the  great  antero- 
posterior length  of  this  specimen  is  due  chiefly  to  the  straight- 


244 


A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


ness  of  the  sacrum.  The  index  also  obtained  by  comparison 
of  the  upper  and  lower  limbs  with  each  other  is  70  (the  latter 
being  taken  as  lOU).  This  high  index  shows  an  approximation 
in  the  proportions  of  the  limbs  of  the  Kubus  to  those  of  the 
anthropoid  apes,  and  indicates  that  the  length  of  the  upper 
limb  is  considerably  greater  in  proportion  than  that  of  the 
lower  as  compared  to  what  obtains  in  Europeans.  In  the 
Negro  and  the  Andamanese,  on  the  other  hand,  the  upper 
limb  is  proportionately  to  the  lower  shorter  than  in  Europeans. 
"  Unfortunately  the  number  of  Kubu  skulls  obtained  is  not 


.  V\ 


1^. 


i\ 


A   KUBU   MAX,   AND   -WOJIAX,    SKETCHED   IN   THE   TILLAGE    OF   SURULANGTIN. 

sufficiently  large  to  justify  very  definite  statements  regarding 
them,  though  I  think  sufficient  to  answer  one  question  which 
presents  itself  to  us  for  solution,  namely,  as  to  what  race  the 
Kubus  are  allied — whether  they  possess  Negrito  or  Malayan 
affinities.  The  character  of  the  hair,  the  form  of  the  nose,  the 
various  characters  of  the  skull,  and  the  proportion  of  the  lirab- 
l)ones  show  that  they  cannot  have  any  near  affinity  to  the 
Negrito  race  found  in  various  parts  of  the  Indo-Malayan 
Archipelago,  but  that  they  are  decidedly  Malays,  and  therefore 
Mongoloid.     The  high  nasi-malar  angle,  the  high  and  broad 


IN  SUMATRA.  245 


face,  the  flat  forehead,  owing  to  absence  of  all  glabellar  and 
superciliary  ridges,  the  slight  sub-glabellar  nasal  depressions, 
and  the  nomadic  life  they  lead,  are  all  highly  characteristic  of 
the  Mongolian  race, 

"  The  frizzle  in  the  hair  seen  in  the  drawings  on  pages  234 
and  244  is  probably  to  be  accounted  for  by  their  having  at 
some  remote  period  intermingled  slightly  with  the  Negrito 
people,  possibly  during  their  migration  southward.  There  is, 
however,  evidence  that  they  have  for  a  long  period  been  iso- 
lated from  the  other  surrounding  inhabitants  of  the  island, 
and  that  by  absence  of  infusion  of  fresh  blood  they  have  come 
to  resemble  one  another  so  closely  that  they  now  possess 
certain  definite  characteristics  of  a  more  or  less  stable  nature." 

From  the  prison  the  Magistrate  brought  a  thief  who  was 
waiting  to  be  sentenced,  on  whom  on  his  apprehension  there 
had  been  found  a  bag  with  the  chief  paraphernalia  of  his  trade, 
in  order  that  he  might  explain  to  me  their  use.  In  it  was  a 
bunch  of  kevs  of  various  sizes,  a  little  sack  with  rice-brains  for 
alluring  fowls  ;  a  package  of  arsenic  for  more  subtle  bipeds  ;  a 
tube  of  soporific  powder,  whose  recipe  he  was  confiding  enough 
to  give  me  :  Take  of  the  Gadung  (a  species  of  Arum  whose  un- 
cooked roots  induce  a  sort  of  intoxication)  a  few  scrapings  of 
the  skin  where  the  stem  joins  the  tuber ;  of  white  Katjuhung 
(Datura)  the  seeds  of  seven  fruits  ;  the  excreta  of  seven  mice  ; 
of  arsenic  a  sufficient  quantity.  When  dried,  pounded,  and 
sifted  through  a  cloth,  to  be  thrown  on  the  rice,  or  into  the 
cigarette  of  the  victim,  or  to  be  blown  towards  him  as  occasion 
offers.  The  thief  admitted  that  he  had  tried  its  efiects  and. 
produced  sleep  on  two  men,  and  stolen  from  them  many  cloths 
and  gold  dust  to  the  value  of  several  hundred  rupees.  In 
addition  to  the  somniferous  compound  there  were  two  other 
tubes  of  "medicine,"  one  for  curing  pain  in  the  stomach,  the 
other  a  bright  scarlet  substance  like  vermilion  which  was  a 
deadly  poison,  he  said,  producing  vomiting  of  blood,  followed 
by  a  terrible  and  incurable  cough,  if  death  did  not  at  once 
supervene.  Its  composition  he  did  not  know  ;  he  had  bought 
it  in  the  Djambi  country.  In  order,  however,  that  its  virtue 
should  not  be  lost  it  required  to  be  set  near  the  heart  of  a 
V)UiTalo  or  of  a  fowl  at  frequent  intervals.  It  had  besides  the 
valuable  characteristic  of  preventing  any  harm  from  poison  to 


246  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

the  person  who  carried  it  about  with  him.  The  bag  con- 
tained, besides,  three  calendars  of  different  forms — the  thief's 
ephemeris — for  computing  the  day  and  hour  at  which  success 
or  failure  would  follow  the  enterprises  of  his  interesting  and 
exciting  profession. 

The  people  of  the  Eawas  are  of  more  open,  lively  and  enlight- 
ened character  than  those  I  had  anywhere  encountered.  The 
women  had  less  of  the  bashful  and  timid  disposition  of  Malays 
of  their  sex,  and  were  inclined  to  be  talkative  and  gay,  without 
forwardness  or  want  of  respect — altogether  a  more  likeable 
people  than  any  other  in  the  Residency. 

During  my  stay  at  Surulangun  there  occurred  one  of  the 
high  Moslem  feast-days,  on  which  it  is  a  custom  of  the  chiefs 
to  come  to  express — "  inasmuch  as  it  is  a  day  of  congratulation 
among  ourselves" — their  good-will  and  wishes  towards  the 
Government  and  the  person  of  the  Magistrate.  Accordingly 
the  chiefs  of  the  nearer  villages,  along  with  a  large  company, 
attired  in  their  best,  came  to  the  residence  of  Mr.  Kamp,  who 
(attended  by  the  Commandant  and  myself)  received  them  in 
the  verandah  on  to  which  they  filed,  with  a  respectful  salaam, 
to  a  seat  in  Oriental  fashion.  After  a  few  minutes,  to  allow 
every  one  to  become  still,  the  chief  of  the  marga  rose ;  and  I 
shall  not  soon  forget  the  grace  and  dignity  of  his  manner  and 
bearing  and  his  perfect  self-possession  and  composure.  Making 
a  distinct  and  separate  bow  first  to  the  Magistrate  (the  ruler 
of  the  region  and  representative  of  the  Government),  next  to 
myself  (the  stranger  and  bis  guest)  and  then  to  the  military 
Commandant — the  order  which  the  etiquette  of  the  occasion 
made  very  proper,  and  most  becoming — he  made  a  long 
speech  to  the  Magistrate  perfect  both  in  expression  and  in 
courtly  demeanour,  and  then  addressed  us  in  turn.  The 
phrases  made  use  of — many  of  them,  in  the  Malay  language, 
extremely  terse — to  express  their  own  goodwill  to  the  Govern- 
ment were  loyal,  honourably  submissive  and  hearty,  and  those 
in  which  they  acknowledged  the  benefits  of  good  government, 
and  the  just  and  mild  administration  of  the  Magistrate  himself, 
were  most  courtly  and  affectionate.  To  myself  terms,  aptly 
chosen,  were  used  to  signify  their  pleasure  at  my  visit  to  their 
country,  their  sincere  wishes  that  I  might  enjoy  it,  and  the 
assurances   of  their   utmost   hospitality  and  good-will.     The 


IN  SUMATRA.  247 


words  addressed  to  the  Commandant  were  very  appropriate  to 
the  commission  he  held  in  the  district.  Altogether  it  was  a 
specimen  of  the  Malay  at  his  best,  as  a  courtier  and  a  gentle- 
man ;  and  (to  me)  a  most  interesting  exhibition  of  the  ele- 
gance, the  politeness  and  dignity,  which  are  characteristic  of 
their  race. 

The  dances  in  vogue  are,  like  themselves,  quite  different  from 
those  in  other  districts  ;  they  are  of  several  forms,  are  more 
lively  and  are  danced  with  much  spirit,  some  of  them  having  a 
likeness  to  European  performances,  especially  one  where  the 
dancer  in  her  evolutions  balances  on  her  head,  shoulders  and 
hands  lighted  tapers,  reminding  one  of  the  German  Hugel- 
hupftanz. 

Fig.  1.  Fig.  2. 


FLOWER  OP  CrUCUMA  ZEUUMBET. — A,  PROCE-S  OF  THE  AXTHER  ;  B,  TUBERCLE  OF  THE 
ANTHER  ;  C,  anther;  D,  the  stigma.  fig.  1,  THE  FLOWER  SHOWING  ITS  ORGANS 
IN  THEIR  NORMAL  CONDITION  ,'   FIG.  2,  WHEN  BEING  VISITED  BY  A  BOMBUS. 

The  region  about  Surulangun  is  one  of  great  interest,  as  it 
lies  on  the  borders  of  that  little-known  forest  stretching  towards 
Redjang  and  Djambi.  Among  the  birds  found  here  I  obtained 
the  Falseornis  longicauda,  with  its  metallic-green  crown,  pink 
head  and  black-ringed  neck,  one  of  the  most  chastely-coloured 
of  the  parrots.  They  used  to  collect  in  the  highest  trees  in  the 
neighbourhood,  and  were  exceedingly  difficult  to  shoot.  In  a 
tree  near  to  that  occupied  by  the  parrots  a  species  of  bee-eater 
{^lerops  sumatranus)  flocked  in  such  thousands  that  as  they 
congregated  in  the  evenings  they  seemed  like  swarms  of  bees, 
and  the  hum  of  their  wings  could  be  heard  a  long  way  off.  By 
the  roads  liere  were  some  magnificent  fig-trees  and  Biptero- 
carpeiB.     In  the  low  forest  a  common  species  of  the  Ginger 


248  A    NATUBALIST'S    WANDERINOS 

family  {Curcuma  zerumhet)  abounded ;  but  in  gathering  it,  I 
observed  that  it  was  provided  with  one  of  the  many  contrivances 
for  securing  cross-fertilisation  which  are  so  interesting  to  the 
botanist,  and  give  such  intense  pleasure  to  his  contemplation 
of  even  the  commonest  flowers.  The  flower-stem  terminates 
in  a  head  of  rich  pink  leaf-like  organs  called  spathes,  which 
supply  a  brilliant  alluring  mass  of  colour  to  the  rather  incon- 
spicuous, odourless,  though  largish  white  flowers ;  the  j^istil,  or 
organ  for  receiving  the  fructifying  pollen  from  the  stamens, 
passes  through  a  hole  in  the  conjoint  anther,  and  its  head 
is  protected  by  a  hood  in  the  perianth  from  all  insects  and 
intruders  which  are  not  large  enough  to  convey  its  pollen  to 
another  flower.  When,  however,  there  enters  a  bee  or  other 
insect  large  enough  to  fill  the  mouth  of  the  flower,  it  comes  in 
contact  with  the  processes  a,  projecting  from  the  lower  margin 
of  the  compound  anther,  which  act  precisely  as  a  lever,  for 
when  these  are  pushed  backward  by  the  bee  pressing  in,  in 
quest  of  the  nectar  at  the  bottom  of  the  flower,  the  anther  is 
rotated,  carrying  with  it  the  stigma  or  top  of  the  pistil  on  to  the 
back  of  the  insect  in  the  most  beautiful  manner.  A  bee  that 
presses  the  long  appendages  of  the  anther,  may  rotate  down 
the  anther  so  as  to  carry  away  pollen  on  its  back,  but  it  will 
not  fertilise  the  flower  unless  it  is  large  enough  to  rotate  the 
composite  anther  sufiiciently  far  to  bring  the  little  tubercles,  h, 
also  on  to  its  back,  the  pressure  of  which  alone  rotates  the 
pistil  tip  on  to  the  bee's  back.  It  is  evident  that  the  pistil 
can  never  come  into  contact  with  the  pollen  of  its  own  floret, 
nor  can  any  floret  be  fertilised  unless  the  insect  has  entered 
fully  into  a  former  flower,  and  smeared  its  back  with  a  patch  of 
pollen  of  some  lengthy  as  long  at  least  as  the  interval  between 
the  anther  appendages  and  the  pistil. 

As  the  fertilising  insect  even  beo-ins  to  back  out  the  lever 
apparatus  is  instantly  released,  and  the  summit  of  the  jjistil 
completely  returns  into  the  security  of  its  hood. 

When  once  fertilised  the  stamens  thicken  in  their  central 
part  and,  contracting  in  a  corkscrew  fashion,  draw  the  perianth 
v^ith  the  stamens  and  pistil  to  the  bottom  of  the  spathe  out  of 
harm's  way  and  to  make  room  for  the  next  floret.  Mr.  Darwin 
has  drawn  attention  to  the  likeness  of  the  Scitamiyiese  in  the 
relation  of  their  essential  organs  to  those  of  the  Orcliidacese,  and 


IN  SUMATRA.  249 


few  examples  perhaps  could  exhibit  this  simikwity  more  than 
the  one  under  notice ;  its  pollen  moreover  being  less  friable 
than  that  in  most  species  of  its  family,  and  singuhirly  viscid. 

I  could  have  spent  many  months  investigating  the  natural 
history  of  this  district,  but,  time  being  short,  I  pressed  on  to 
reach  Muara  Mengknlem,  whence  I  hoped  to  be  able  to  make 
an  expedition  into  the  Djambi  Lands.  Using  his  great  influ- 
ence with  its  chiefs,  the  Pangeran  of  the  Rawas  might  be  able 
to  obtain  entrance  for  a  white  man  not  a  Hollander,  of  whose 
entrance  the  Sultan  was  naturally  extremely  jealous  and 
afraid.  From  Surulangun  the  road  kept  by  the  north  side  of 
the  Rawas  river,  to  the  halfway  village  of  Pulau  Kida,  near 
which  is  the  boundary  between  the  diluvium  of  recent  age 
and  the  Palaeozoic  strata,  which,  extending  away  north-west  to 
Limun,  contains  the  auriferous  rocks  which  have  made  that 
country  famous  for  the  quality  and  colour  of  its  gold.  I  passed 
many  people  washing  the  earth  of  the  high  banks  of  the  river  ; 
and  at  a  spot  some  sixty  feet  above  its  present  bed,  opposite 
where  it  is  obstructed  by  a  cataract  a  mile  and  a  half  in  length, 
I  saw  an  ancient  mine  of  the  natives.  Late  in  the  afternoon 
we  reached  Muara  Mcngkulem. 


250  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


CHAPTER  YIII. 

SOJOURN   IN    THE    PALEMBANG   EESIDENCY — COnUnued. 

Muara  Mengkulem — Refused  entrance  into  the  Djambi  Sultanate — Xapal 
Litjin — Peak  of  Karang-nata — Geological  formation — Botanical  features 
■ — Birds — nemi[)teron  milked  by  ants — llakit  life — Bipin-telok — V.  ater 
roads — An  escape  Irom  rirowning — Pau — Paver  squall — Approach  to 
Palembang— River  life  and  its  massive  joy — The  town  of  Palembang — 
Return  to  Batavia. 

On  arriving  at  Muara  Mengkulem  I  was  bitterly  disappointed 
to  hear  from  the  Pangeran  that  he  considered  it  extremely 
improbable  that  the  Panghulus  of  Djambi  (all  the  chiefs  of 
the  villages  in  Djambi  are  priests,  the  people  being  bigoted 
Mahomedans)  would  consent  to  my  traversing  their  country, 
as  there  was  a  great  deal  of  fighting  going  on  in  the  interior. 
He,  however,  consented  to  send  a  messenger  to  those  among 
them  who  were  his  friends  at  Bukit-bulan  five  miles  distant, 
explaining  who  I  was  and  for  what  object  I  wished  to  visit  their 
country,  to  which  after  an  interval  of  some  days  a  reply  was 
brought,  that  though  personally  favourable  to  me  they  could 
not  be.  surety  for  my  safety,  and  advised  me  not  to  attempt  to 
enter  without  the  mandate  of  the  Sultan,  meaning  not  the 
Sultan  recognised  by  the  Dutch  Government,  but  the  prcA'ious 
deposed  ruler,  who  had  taken  up  his  court  in  the  interior  of 
the  country  and  whom  all  the  Djambi  people  recognised. 
This  was  very  disappointing,  but  I  had  fared  no  worse  than 
the  Dutch  Mid-Sumatra  expedition,  which,  two  years  before, 
had  been  advised  to  turn  back  at  that  same  place.  I  proceeded 
a  stage  still  farther  up  the  river  to  Napal  Litjin,  my  farthest 
northern  station,  a  very  picturesque  village  at  the  foot  of 
another  of  those  nearly  perpendicular  limestone  peaks  of  which 
I  have  made  mention  more  than  once,  as  lying  on  the  eastern 
outskirts  of  the  Barisan  runce. 


IN  SUMATRA.  251 


The  ascent  of  the  Karang-nata,  as  the  principal  peak  is 
called,  was  by  no  means  easy,  as  its  white  cliffs — which  from 
below  glinted  prettily  through  the  vegetation — were  almost 
perpendicular,  and  had  to  be  scrambled  up  by  digging  one's 
finders  and  toes  well  into  the  crevices.  It  has  several  caves  full 
of  stalactites,  one  especially  being  of  great  dimensions,  whose 
numerous  chambers  were  tenanted  by  thousands  of  bats,  whose 
stiflino;  o-uano-like  odour  met  me  half-wav  down.  The  hill  is 
composed  of  a  broad  band  of  crystalline  limestone  bedded- 
between  Devonian  slates  tilted  up  on  edge,  which  at  the  base 
of  the  hill  run  under  the  diluvium  of  the  Palembang  Plain. 
The  larger  cave  is  in  its  interior  quite  protected  from  the  severe 
effects  of  the  weather,  but  it  bears  evident  traces  of  what  must, 
I  think,  be  attributed  to  sea  erosion.  The  summit  is  a  vast 
rockery  of  disjointed  blocks,  with  trees  growing  in  the  crevices, 
their  stems,  as  well  as  the  crannies  and  faces  of  the  rocks, 
loaded  with  ferns  anl  orchids  {Ctelogyne,  spp.)  bearing  trosses 
of  flowers  more  than  a  yard  in  length  ;  with  various  species  of 
Me'astoma  exhibiting  bright  flowers  or  pink  fruits,  but  princi- 
pally with  a  shrubby  species,  in  great  profusion,  of  Cijrtandrese, 
having  a  flower  of  a  rich  purple-blue  colour,  which  to  my  great 
satisfaction  I  perceived  to  belong  to  a  new  species,  which  I 
liave  named  Boea  Treuhii*  and  probably  to  a  new  genus  of 
that  beautiful  family.  During  the  ten  days — to  my  regret  all 
the  time  I  could  spare — of  my  stay  in  this  region  I  made 
large  additions — some  200  species — to  my  herbarium  among 
the  specimens  of  trees,  one  being  a  species  of  nutmeg  with 
fruit  as  large  as  the  largest  orange. 

Here,  too,  I  noticed  a  singular  case  of  ants  milking  a  winged 
Hemipteron,  which  of  course  could  not  be  kept  in  captivity, 
as  they  do  many  species  of  the  wingless  aphides.  The 
Hemipteron  sat  quietly,  evidently  enjoying  the  operation,  and 
at  frequent  intervals  discharged  a  drop  of  matter,  which  was 
eagerly  sipped  up  by  the  ants. 

1  have  alrea<ly  spoken  of  the  great  beauty  of  the  riverside 
vegetation  coming  down  the  Kupit  which  ran  through  a 
less  great  forest  than  that  between  Napal  Litjin  and  Muara 

*  So  named  in  honour  of  Dr.  Melchior  Trenh,  the  esteemed  Director  of  the 
Botanical  Gardens  in  Buitcnzdrg,  to  whose  kind  aid  and  intiuei.ce  I  owed 
much  during  .ny  stay  in  tha  Archipelago. 


252  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINOS 

Mengkulem,  which  is  perfectly  virgin  and  is  perhaps  of 
as  vast  an  age  as  the  period  which  has  elapsed  since  the 
beginning  of  the  upraising  of  the  180  miles  of  country  that 
now  separates  it  from  the  sea.  The  display  of  flower  and  fruit 
along  the  Rawas  river  was  still  finer,  and,  in  fact,  it  could 
scarcely  have  been  richer.  Wliile  Oak-trees  in  full  blossom 
characterised  the  Rupit,  Bipterocarpese,  the  family  which  gives 
us  the  Camphor-tree  and  supplies  a  great  deal  of  the  dammar 
of  commerce,  and  some  of  which  are  among  the  tallest  of 
trees,  were  along  the  Rawas  the  distinguishing  feature — though 
clumps  of  oak  were  plentiful  enough  too — the  brilliant  pink 
and  rose  coloured  "  wings "  that  adorn  their  ripening  fruits 
having  the  appearance  of  tassels  hanging  from  the  tips  of 
the  branches  all  over  their  immense  crowns.  Over  some 
of  the  highest  trees,  and  spread  continuously  across  the  forest 
for  hundreds  of  yards  at  a  stretch,  was  a  Leguminose  climber 
{Bavhinia)  with  rich  orange  and  scarlet  flowers.  Blue  fishing- 
hawks  {Polisetus  liumiUs)  sat  in  motionless  watch  on  the 
projecting  limbs  of  trees ;  Rhinoceros  birds  (Anthracocerus 
convexus  and  Rhytidoceros  suhrnficollis)  clambered  on  tlie  fruit- 
laden  fig-trees,  conspicuous  by  the  rich  colour  of  their  beaks 
— derived  from  the  oil-gland  at  the  tail  in  B.  rhinoceros. 
Herons  and  Bitterns  hunted  in  the  sandy  bends,  kingfishers 
flew  out  from  every  corner,  and  flocks  of  sand-plovers  zig- 
zagged away  with  a-frightened  scream  as  we  passed  along  ; 
while  on  the  projecting  stones  on  the  river,  black  cormorants 
(Phalocracorax)  eagerly  watched  for  their  finny  prey,  and 
flocks  of  pure  white  egrets  displayed  to  advantage  their  spot- 
less plumage  against  the  dark  foliage  of  the  tops  of  the  trees. 
On  my  return  to  Muara  Mengkulem,  I  had  at  once  to  prepare 
to  start  for  the  coast.  While  I  was  packing  up  I  sent  down  men 
to  Pulau-kida,  the  village  below  the  cataract,  to  construct  for 
me  a  Rakit  in  which  to  travel  to  Palembang.  In  these  large 
house-like  structures — floated  on  bamboo  rafts — the  whole 
produce  of  the  up  regions  of  the  river  are  conveyed  to  the  coast 
markets.  Mine,  however,  while  resembling  the  trade  Rakit  in 
appearance,  was  fitted  up  with  much  regard  to  comfort,  for  I 
intended  the  remainder  of  my  Sumatra  journey  to  be  a  pleasure 
trip.  On  a  raft  40  feet  long  and  1 5  wide,  made  of  the  largest 
bamboos  seven  or  eight  tiers  deep,  was  erected  a  neat  house,  sur- 


IN  SUMATRA.  253 


rounded  on  all  sides  by  a  platform  under  tlieshade  of  the  roof. 
I  divided  it  into  a  writing  room  and  sleeping  chamber  in  front, 
and  a  store  for  my  collections  and  a  dormitory  for  my  servants 
behind.  Behind  this  was  another  long  raft  slightly  narrower, 
floored  with  earth  on  which  a  trellis  frame- work  stood,  and 
the  whole  housed  over.  On  this  earthen  floor  a  fire  was 
continually  kept  burning  to  dry  the  bundles  of  herbarium  laid 
on  the  trellis-work  over  it. 

I  had  looked  forward  with  intensest  pleasure  to  this  mode  of 
travel,  and  it  was  therefore  with  extreme  satisfaction  that,  on 
the  27th  of  November,  1881, 1  arrived  from  Muara  Mengkulem 
and  took  possession  of  my  floating  home.  Inside,  I  lined 
my  sitting-room  with  white  cotton  cloth,  hung  a  few  drawings, 
photographs,  and  trophies  about  the  walls,  fixed  my  table, 
and  laid  out  my  books  and  the  implements  of  my  profession. 
The  outside  I  hung  round  profusely  with  living  orchids,  sonie 
of  them  in  magnificent  flower.  Next  morning,  full  of  the  most 
buoyant  feelings,  I  loosed  its  cable  and  let  it  glide  ofl"  down  the 
Rawas  River,  along  a  great  avenue  broken  at  distant  intervals 
only  by  gambir  gardens  and  factories  of  Catechu. 

All  the  villages  along  the  river  had  been  informed  of  my 
coming,  and  on  notifying  my  approach  by  the  beating  of  a 
gong,  a  complement  of  rowers — more  properly  of  pilots— came 
off  in  small  boats  and  relieved  their  fellows  of  the  villa^'o 
above.  In  the  upper  reaches  of  the  river  it  required  16  pilots 
to  guide  this  long  flotilla — whose  duty  it  was  to  keep  the 
stern  of  the  Rakit  straight  to  the  stream  especially  at  corners 
and  rapids,  by  pulling  on  loijg  fixed  lever-like  oars  at  stem  and 
stern,  whicli  they  worked  standing.  All  day  long  I  collected 
plants  from  the  river  banks,  by  means  of  a  light  shift',  as  the 
stream  moved  very  slowly,  anchoring  each  night  under  some 
creat  tree  bv  the  marijin. 

After  a  seven  days'  journey  I  halted  for  a  more  prolonged 
stay  at  the  village  of  Bigin-telok,  to  make  some  closer 
acquaintance  with  the  flora  of  the  flatter  lands  which  began 
there.  It  was  then  the  wet  season,  and  the  surrounding  country 
was  under  water  for  miles  from  the  river  bank,  and  botan- 
ising  from  a  boat  was  a  curious  experience  ;  for  after  entering 
some  side  stream  a  little  way,  all  distinction  of  stream  or 
no  stream  was  lost,  and  I  could  simplv  sail  about  among 
18 


254  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


the  trees  in  any  direction  I  wished,  but  such  work  required 
the  attendance  of  a  good  guide.  Jambus  (Jamhosa  spp.) 
seemed  to  be  among  the  most  common  trees,  and  their  long 
white  stamened  flowers,  falling  on  the  water,  glided  down  the 
stream  like  so  many  stars.  The  whole  surface  of  the  water 
was  covered,  absolutely  in  a  close  sheet,  with  petals,  fruits 
and  leaves,  of  innumerable  species.  In  placid  corners  some- 
times I  noted  a  collected  moss  nearly  half  a  foot  deep,  among 
which,  on  examination,  I  could  scarcely  find  a  leaf  that  was 
perfect,  or  that  remained  attached  to  its  rightful  neighbour, 
so  that  were  they  to  become  imbedded  in  some  soft  muddy 
spot,  and  in  after  ages  to  reappear  in  fossil  form,  they  would 
afford  a  few  difficult  puzzles  to  the  Palaeontologist,  both  to 
separate  and  to  put  together. 

In  many  of  these  places  the  water  reached  to  the  great 
depth  of  60  and  70  feet,  and  swarmed  with  crocodiles. 
While  shooting  one  day  on  such  a  spot,  from  a  small  skiff 
capable  of  holding  only  myself  and  the  man  who  oared  it,  I 
fired  at  a  bird  among  some  stranded  logs,  and  the  recoil  of  my 
gun,  perched  as  I  was  on  the  tip  of  the  prau,  overbalanced 
me  into  the  water.  Had  not  at  the  moment  of  falling  my 
left  hand  unconsciously  caught  the  side  of  the  boat,  I  should 
have  fared  ill,  for  I  had  instinctively  clutched  my  fowling- 
piece,  and  was  besides  wearing  a  pair  of  heavy  shooting  boots. 
My  weight  on  the  side  would  have  capsized  the  skiff  had  not 
my  rower  righted  it  by  a  self-preservatory  act,  which  drew  my 
head  out  of  the  water,  when  I  scrambled  into  the  boat.  The 
poor  fellow  was  utterly  paralysed  with  terror,  and  presented  so 
comical  a  countenance  that  I  could  not  help  laughing  at  him. 
He  would  scarcely  allow  me  to  move  again  in  the  boat,  and 
had  I  not  used  threats,  he  would  have  paddled  me  back  to  the 
village  without  waiting  even  to  pick  up  the  bird  I  had  shot. 
"  What  would  have  awaited  me,"  he  moaned  in  a  most  com- 
plaining tone,  as  if  I  had  jumped  into  the  river  to  bring  woe 
on  him,  "  if  I  had  rowed  you  out  and  returned  without  you  ? 
The  whole  village,"  he  sobbed,  the  tears  actually  appearing  on 
his  eyelids,  "  would  not  have  been  able  to  pay  the  blood-money 
for  you,  and  I  should  never  have  been  able  to  stay  any  longer 
there."  Not  a  word  escaped  him  as  to  my  feelings  on  encoun- 
tering a  crocodile.     He  was  evidently  relieved  of  the  heaviest 


IN  SUMATRA.  255 

responsibility  he  liad  ever  borne  when  he  deposited  me  ao-ain 
on  my  own  Eakit. 

Some  of  the  trees  which  were  growing  near  the  mouth  of 
the  side  streams,  could  the  forty  or  fifty  feet  of  water  in  which 
they  stood  have  been  removed  to  show  them  from  their  roots 
upwards,  must  have  been  stupendous  specimens  of  arboreal 
vegetation.  I  gathered  a  slender  species  of  Pandan  (P.  helio- 
copus),  standing  above  the  water  to  a  height  of  thirty  to  thirty- 
five  feet,  where  the  water  measured  between  forty-five  and  fifty 
feet,  giving  seventy  to  eighty  feet  for  its  true  height.  Here 
I  caught,  in  the  act  of  swimming  across  the  river,  a  lovely  little 
Carnivore  [Linsang  gracilib),  one  of  the  most  beautiful  of  its 
race,  which,  though  I  kept  alive  for  a  long  time,  never,  to  my 
regret,  became  very  tame,  and  therefore  did  not  gain  in  my 
affection  the  place  that  its  beauty  deserved,  which  was  given 
to  another  member  of  my  menagerie,  the  curious  crepuscular 
honey-stealing  Malay  Bear. 

My  next  halting  place  was  tne  village  of  Pan,  situated  a  little 
below  the  junction  of  the  water  of  the  Rawas  region  with  the 
Musi  which  comes  past  Tebbing-tinggi,  a  celebrated  prau 
building  depot  doing  a  great  trade  with  Palembang.  These 
boats,  from  six  to  seven  feet  in  breadth,  are  made  from  a 
single  tree  stem,  out  of  which  no  one  not  acquainted  with  the 
manner  of  their  construction,  on  seeing  it  newly  felled,  would 
believe  that  a  boat  of  these  dimensions  could  possibly  be 
made.  When  the  stem  has  been  partially  excavated,  fires  arc 
kindled  in  the  hollow,  and  bars  of  wood  changed  at  intervals 
for  longer  ones,  are  forced  in  crosswise  to  separate  the  sides. 
The  greatest  possible  care  is  necessary  in  this  operation,  as 
the  heat  often  at  the  very  last  will  start  a  knot,  or  crack  the 
log,  rendering  all  their  work  of  months  useless.  A  jierfect 
pantjalan,  therefore,  costs  a  large  sum. 

Pleasant  as  "  rakiting  "  was,  it  had  its  perils,  for  where  the 
river  widened  out  greatly  and  decreased  in  current,  the  wind 
blowing  across  the  stream  rendered  navigation  very  dangerous. 
About  100  miles  above  I'alembang  (and  150  from  the  sea) 
we  were  caught  in  a  heavy  squall  of  wind  and  rain  in  the  night 
time,  which  simply  took  the  entire  control  of  our  rather 
unwieldy  vessels.  8o  intensely  dark  was  the  night  that  we  had 
no  idea,  except  when  a  momentary  gleam  of  lightning  lit  up 


256  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

the  scene,  in  what  direction  we  were  being  borne,  and  we  spent 
several  hours  of  great  anxiety  lest  we  should  be  driven  on  one 
of  the  many  sunken  tree  stems  with  which  the  river  was 
studded. 

Four  days  sail  below  Pan  and  past  the  confluence  of  the 
Lamatang.  with  its  complement  of  water  and  commerce  from 
Lahat  and  Muara  Enim,  we  found  ourselves  in  the  midst  of 
growing  signs  of  approach  to  a  great  centre  of  activity,  making 
up  for  the  monotony  of  the  landscape  through  which  we  had 
for  a  day  or  two  been  travelling  ;  for  the  low  banks  had  shut 
out  all  view,  and  their  distance  on  both  sides,  so  broad  was 
the  river,  had  precluded  me  from  identifying  their  vegetation. 
Large  Palembang  praus  bright  in  scarlet  or  blue  decorations, 
began  to  be  met  in  little  fleets,  being  laboriously  poled  up 
stream  close  under  the  banks  out  of  the  current ;  and  every  little 
Avhile  a  gay  skiif,  propelled  by  two  or  three  flashing  oars,  would 
enliven  and  glide  athwart  the  picture,  and  disappearing  again 
leave  us  to  our  plodding  way.  In  the  almost  dead  water  we 
overtook  and  were  overtaken  in  turn  by  numberless  Rakits, 
single  or  in  immense  strings  of  from  twenty  to  thirty  made 
fast  one  behind  the  other,  often  nearly  half  a  mile  in  length, 
and  broad  rafts  hundreds  of  yards  in  length,  mostly  of  laurel 
wood,  for  the  cabinet  makers  for  whom  Palembang  is  famous. 

At  sundown  on  the  20th  of  December  I  moored,  not  far 
from  the  confluence  of  the  Ogan,  which  brings  to  the  capital 
the  tribute  of  Muara-dua  and  Batu-radja,  in  sight  of  Palem- 
bang, amid  a  curious  scene.  Below  my  Rakit  there  stretched 
away  to  a  great  distance  a  broad  unbroken  plain  of  log  rafts, 
on  which  a  large  population  of  men,  women,  and  children  was 
encamped  ;  some  were  under  the  shelter  of  a  few  palm-leaf  mats, 
others,  detected  by  the  light  playing, on  their  faces,  crouched  in 
small  groups  here  and  there  round  little  flres,  the  whole,  in  the 
dying  light  of  the  still  evening,  forming  a  rather  weird  scene. 

It  was  indeed  with  feelings  of  regret  that  I  found  I  had 
arrived  within  sight  of  the  end  of  a  journey  Avhich  will  always 
remain  in  my  memory  as  one  of  the  deepest  enjoyments  of  my 
life.  Crowned  by  the  last  month  of  river-life,  with  its  varying 
impressions  and  sensations,  it  had  been  full  of  the  intensest 
gratification,  and  still  is  when  I  recall  that  long  panorama- 
like picture. 


IN  SUMATRA.  2bl 


To  recall  the  magnificent  flora  of  the  upper  reaches  of  the  river 
almost  makes  me  retract  the  statement  that  the  tropics  present 
few  flowers  ;  for  so  blossom-spangled  a  road  it  would  be  difficult 
to  match  anywhere;— it  is  only  in  the  beginning  of  the  wet 
season,  however,  and  along  the  steep  banks  of  sorfie  such 
river,  wide  enough  to  let  in  the  sunlight  and  the  free  breath 
of  heaven,  that  one  must  look  for,  or  indeed  expect  to  be 
able  to  see  such  a  display.  The  singular  trackless  streets, 
roads,  and  paths  of  water  by  which  I  rambled  among  the 
forest  avenues  are  never  to  be  forgotten  reminiscences ;  nor 
lower  down  the  slow  majesty  of  the  widening  river  between 
its  level  banks  fronted  with  tall  reeds,  dark-foliaged  figs,  and 
groves  of  Eriodendron  trees,  with  their  stiff  trifid  arms ;  and 
at  last  the  broad  expanse  of  its  united  affluents  by  whose 
sources  I  had  for  so  many  months  encamped,  drawing  towards 
itself  the  atoms  of  produce  of  two  degrees  of  latitude,  and 
concentrating  them  into  a  hot  nucleus  of  commercial  life  and 
activity.  Intermingled  with  all  these  memories  are  a  thousand 
indescribable  vignettes ;  miniatures  of  quaint  nooks  and  sandy 
bays,  and  embossed  villages,  of  out-of-the-world  ways  and 
habits  and  customs,  of  the  intermittent  comers  and  goers ;  of 
the  changing  features  of  the  river's  face  itself  in  wind  and 
rain,  in  early  morning  or  noonday  sun,  in  evening  shades, 
under  the  pale  moon,  and  in  the  solemn  silence  of  the 
darkness.  Surveyed  from  my  window  in  the  intervals  of 
occuj)ation,  or  seated  under  the  verandah  in  the  cool  evenings, 
this  changing  landscape  of  days  and  days  (so  placid  and 
imperceptible  was  to  me  the  motion  of  our  gliding  down, 
and  so  full  of  that  exhilarating  relief  from  labour  and 
fatigue)  seemed  to  move  past  my  eyes  of  its  own  accord,  and 
afl'orded  me  a  continued  and  massive  sensation  of  delight 
that  nothing  could  disturb,  and  which  can  be  but  faintly 
conceived  by  those  who  have  not  experienced  this  uncommon 
mode  of  travel  which  is  absolutely  different  from  that  by  any 
other  water-carriage. 

My  very  last  stage,  however,  was  through,  perhaps,  as  un- 
wonted a  scene  as  I  may  ever  look  on  ;  it  was  an  eight  hours'  sail 
through  the  city  of  Palembang  itself,  which  is  certainly  one  of 
the  curiosities  of  the  East.  Throwing  off  from  our  anchorage 
about  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning,  we  slid  down  betv/eea  miles 


258  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

and  miles  of  log-rafts  moored  to  the  banks,  packed  close 
together  forming  an  immense  pavement,  with  an  abundant 
population ;  then  on  each  side  Rakits  large  and  small,  in  all 
positions — sideways,  lengthwise,  crossways,  choke-a-block,  as  if 
the  river  had  swept  away  a  village  or  two  and  stranded  them 
there  anyhow — ^to  which  a  continuous  stream  of  little  skiffs  were 
constantly  bringing  the  dealers  in  the  different  products,  who 
might  be  seen  in  little  knots  on  the  steering  stages  discussing 
terms  over  siri  and  betel.  Anxious  to  make  advantageous 
terms,  eager  traders  were  shooting  past  on  a  several  days'  jour- 
ney up  stream  to  meet  expected  and  valuably  loaded  Rakits, 
which,  if  large  and  freighted  witli  dammar,  gum  elastic,  gutta- 
percha, will  cost  as  much  as  £500.  As  no  bamboo  grows  near 
Palembang,  and  none  of  the  larger  sorts  nearer  than  the 
sources  of  the  river,  the  Rakit  itself  is  an  eager  subject  of 
barter,  and  always  fetches  a  sum  which  largely  remunerates 
the  cost  of  its  building  and  transport  the  whole  length  of  the 
river.  Seaward  from  this  heterogeneous  collection,  which  was 
not  permitted  to  pass  beyond  the  upper  boundaries  of  the  town 
to  clog  its  avenues,  I  entered  Palembang  proper,  a  single  row 
of  cabins  on  each  bank,  with  their  faces  to  the  river,  built  on 
immense  log  rafts  which  stretched  out  in  front  of  them  as  a 
broad  platform,  forming  their  landing  stage  and  approach — 
on  one  side  the  Malay  portion  of  the  town,  on  the  other  the 
Chinese  shops  and  abodes — the  whole  rising  and  falling 
many  feet  with  every  tide.  Everywhere  innumerable  little 
boats  flashed  about  over  the  bright  sunlit  water,  here  with 
a  woman  in  a  blue  tunic  and  a  deep  scarlet  head- cloth  calling 
out  her  store  of  fruits ;  there,  propelled  by  urgent  arms 
conveying  the  busy  merchant ;  and  from  a  hidden  corner 
where  it  had  been  lying  in  wait,  would  dart  out,  like  a  spider 
from  its  lair,  some  other  jn'au,  and  lassoing  a  slowly  passing 
log  would  pull  in  again  with  an  item  of  livelihood  gleaned 
from  the  flotsam  harvest  which  the  river  was  continually 
brino-in<T:  down. 

At  length  a  bend  of  the  river  brought  me  in  sight  of  the 
European  and  official  quarter  of  the  city  situated  on  the 
northern  bank,  opposite  which  lay  at  anchor,  steamers  and 
vessels  of  many  rigs,  all  looking  gigantic  to  my  eyes,  unac- 
customed   for    so    many    months   to   such   a   sight.      Slowly 


IN  SUMATRA.  259 


floating  down  the  river,  I  moored,  with  the  Kesident's*  per- 
mission, opposite  the  Residency  stairs.  Instantly  a  curious 
crowd  that  never  dispersed  during  the  whole  of  my  stay, 
lined  the  bank  to  see  and  discuss  the  unusual  flotilla,  which  on 
my  arrival  presented  a  singularly  picturesque  appearance,  as 
the  entire  exterior  of  my  Rakit  was  one  mass  of  blossoms  from 
the  orchids  suspended  round  it,  and  its  cargo  of  plants,  skins, 
living  birds,  and  Honey-bears,  and  the  beautiful  little  Linsang 
formed  an  unwonted  shipment. 

Palembang,  the  capital  of  the  Residency,  contains  a  great 
population  of  from  50,000  to  60,000  souls,  of  Arab,  Chinese, 
Javanese  and  Malays.  They  speak  the  Malay  language  inter- 
mixed with  much  Javanese,  and  write  it  either  in  Arabic  or 
Javanese  characters.  It  is  the  seat  of  a  great  export  and 
import  trade  with  Batavia,  Singapore,  Siam,  and  China,  and  is 
famed  for  its  manufacture  of  furniture,  especially  of  laquer 
work,  made  by  Chinese  brought  for  the  purpose  from  their  own 
country  by  rich  Palembang-Chinese  artificers,  and  for  the  weav- 
ing of  rich  sarongs  of  silk  interwrought  with  gold  into  most 
elegant  designs.  Everywhere  one  perceived  signs  of  business 
and  activity,  but  I  saw  none  so  eager  for  employment  as  the 
ferry-boat  men,  who  at  the  various  landing-places  screamed 
themselves  hoarse  at  every  approaching  passenger,  crying  up 
the  special  qualities  of  their  boats,  and  the  generously  low- 
sum  for  which  they  A\ould  condescend  to  ferry  one  over,  and 
then  Avith  sarcastic  jokes  and  laughter  falling  to  upbraid  and 
praise  the  successful  ferryman  and  his  boat ;  they  might  have 
been  Egyptian  donkey  drivers  or  English  omnibus  conductors, 
who  had  changed  their  skin  and  their  occupation,  rather  than 
staid  IMalays. 

The  most  important  buildings  arc  the  combined  palace  and 
barracks  of  the  Sultans  built  in  1780  by,  as  report  goes,  a 
Europciin,  a  strong,  massive  edifice  surrounded  by  a  stone 
rampart  in  whicli  now  the  garrison  is  quartered ;  the  elegant 
house  of  the  Resident,  looking  out  on  the  river  from  a  little 
distance  back;  the  Chinese  Joss-house,  and  the  IMosquo  floored 
with  marble,  and  having  a  minaret  100  feet  high.  It  is  nearly 
150  years  of  age  ;  but  it  certainly  looks  better  at  a  little  distance 

*  At  that  lime,  the  ilistiaguishcd  and  urbane  ofllccr,  Mr.  Lngin.;  Tobias, 
afterwards  Governor  of  Achecn. 


.>260  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

off  than  at  close  quarters.  Besides  these,  a  little  way  from 
the  town,  are  the  tombs  of  the  Sultans,  where  many  of  the 
devout  go  to  pray  ;  but  perhaps  the  most  interesting  and 
curious  to  the  Western  visitor — a  spot  held  in  the  utmost 
veneration  by  the  Palembangers^ — is  the  grave  of  SeJcandar 
Alam,  or  Alexander  the  Great,  whom  the  Sultans  and  most 
of  the  chiefs  of  Palembang  claim  as  their  illustrious  fore- 
.Jfather.  . 

In  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Government  offices  stands  the 
market,  which — as  are  many  of  the  houses,  esjjecially  those  of 
the.  Chinese  shop-keepers — is  substantially  built  of  stone,  a 
material  which  along  with  iron-wood,  was  during  the  reign  of 
the  Sultans  forbidden  to  all  save  members  of  the  Koyal  house 
as  a  building  material. 

On  Sunday,  the  25th  December,  twelve  months  from  my 
starting  from  the  mouth  of  the  Semangka  Kiver,  I  sailed  for 
I^atavia,  and  the  last  pictures  of  Sumatra  that  I  recall  are  the 
heavinof  and  surgino-  in  the  troubled  water  of  our  screw  of  the 
floating  dwellings  on  both  banks  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach 
to  what  seemed  their  imminent  destruction,  attended  by  the 
overthrow  from  the  gaping  and  closing  of  tlie  log  platforms 
of  the  children  at  their  play  (some  of  them  actually  into  the 
river),  their  ineffectual  scrambling  to  regain  their  footing, 
and  the  attempts  of  their  more  unconcerned  elders  to  retain 
theirs  on  the  unstable  foundations  of  their  home— in  some 
aspects  a  very  ludicrous  scene ;  and  the  interminable  stretch 
of  nipa-palms  that  cover,  in  a  low  dense  forest,  the  watery 
uninhabitable  mud-flats  that  extend  for  fifty  miles  from  the 
city  to  the  sea. 

After  making  a  short  call  at  Muntok  in  Banka,  between 
which  and  Sumatra  a  jilateau  covered  by  only  three  fathoms  of 
water  exists,  I  was  landed  on  the  27th  of  the  month  in  Batavia, 
where  I  at  once  set  about  my  preparations  for  an  extended 
journey  to  the  less  civilised  islands  in  the  Far  East  of  the 
A.rchipelago. 


IN  SUMATRA.  2G1 


APPENDIX  TO  PAET  III. 


I.— ON  THE  OSTEOLOGICAL  CHAEACTEKS  OF  THE 
KUBUS  OF  SUMATRA. 

By  J.  G.  Garson,  M.D.,  F.Z.S.,  IMemb.  Anthrop.  Inst.;  Eoyal  Col.  Surg. 
Eng. ;  Lecturer  ou  Comparative  Anatomy,  Charing  Cross  Hospital. 

The  osteological  remains  of  the  Kubus  of  Sumatra,  placed  in  my  hands  for 
examination  by  Mr.  H.  0.  Forbes,  consisted  of  the  skeleton  of  a  female  and 
a  single  skull,  also  tliat  of  a  female,  which  are  now  in  the  possession  of  the 
British  Museum.     Both  specimens  were  those  of  adults  of  middle  age. 

The  height  of  seven  males  (measured  by  Mr.  Forbes)  averaged  1569  mm., 
or  almost  exactly  the  same  as  that  of  adult  Englishwomen  (1592  mm.), 
Avhile  the  average  height  of  the  five  females  was  1493  mm. ;  the  difference 
between  the  stature  of  the  male  and  female  Kubus  is  theiefore  103  mm. 
The  height  of  the  skeleton  jjlaced  in  my  hands,  estimated  from  the  length 
of  the  femur,  is  J 450  mm.,  which,  allowing  for  the  soft  parts  existing  in 
the  living  body,  would  indicate  the  stature  of  this  individual  to  be  about 
the  average  of  the  females  measured  by  Mr.  Forbes. 

Characters  of  the  SkiiU. 

Cranium.— The  appearance  presented  by  the  drawings  taken  from 
life  by  Mr.  Forbes  shows  that  the  skull  is  of  moderate  length,  somewhat 
narrow  transver.sely  in  the  region  of  the  forehead,  and  flat  in  the  glabella 
and  superciliary  regions:  the  malars  are  prominent,  the  nose  becomes 
gradually  elevated  towards  the  tip,  its  contour  following  a  wide  arc:  the 
"chin  is  narrow  but  not  pointed;  the  lips  arc  thick  and  jirominent,  and 
the  hair  is  straight  with  a  tendency  to  curl. 

Turning  to  the  skulls  we  arc  at  once  struck  by  the  strong  resemblance 
they  bear  to  one  another  in  pcncral  appearance,  the  only  difference 
ob.servable  being  that  that  belonging  to  the  skeleton  is  somewhat  larger 
generally  than  the  other.  This  resemblance  between  the  two  skulls  is 
confirmed  by  an  examination  of  the  princijial  measurements,  Avluch  arc 
given  in  the  annexed  table.  The  maximum  length  of  the  one  is  174  mm., 
and  of  the  other  173  mm.,  while  their  maximum  breadth  is  135  mm.  and 
136  mm.  respectivelv.  These  measurements  give  a  ce])halic  index  to  the 
one  of  77-6,  and  to  the  other  of  780,  which  y.laces  them  in  tl;e  mefate- 
cephalic  gi-oup  of  Flower,  and  of  the  Frankfurter  Yerstcndiiing. 

The  altitudinal  index  (the  ratio  of  the  basio-bregmatic  height  to  the 
maximum  length)  diifers  somewhat  in  the  the  two  skulls,  that  belong- 
ing to  the  skeleton  being  considerably  higher  than  the  other;  but  in 
neither  instance  does  the  height  exceed  the  breadth. 

The  general  form  of  the  cranium,  as  seen  in  the  norma  verticalis,  is 


262  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

narrow  in  front,  the  sides  straight  and  gradually  diverging  to  the  parietal 
eminences,  which  are  situated  near  the  posterior  border  of  the  parietal 
bones.  The  ditferences  in  the  broadening  out  of  the  cranium  from  the 
anterior  frontal  to  the  parietal  regions  in  the  two  skulls  is  well  seen  by 
comparing  the  relation  of  the  minimum  and  maximum  frontal  breadths 
of  each  with  their  respective  maximum  breadth,  this  latter  being  taken 
as  100.  In  the  skull  belonging  to  the  skeleton,  which  we  will  designate 
as  No.  1,  the  indices  are  67"4,  7y"2,  and  100;  in  the  other  skull,  which  avo 
will  call  No.  2,  they  are  64,  77-2,  and  100.  The  glabellar  region  is  flat  and 
smooth,  corresponding  to  outline  No.  0  of  Broca  in  skull  No.  1,  and  to 
No.  1.  in  skull  No.  2;  superciliary  lidges  are  entirely  ab.«ent.  The  fore- 
head rises  somewhat  vertically  to  the  level  of  the  fiontal  eminences 
(which  are  not  prominent),  and  then  slopes  backwaids  and  ujiwards  till 
it  attains  its  maximum,  which  is  situated  in  the  parietal  region.  Viewed 
from  the  noi-ina  frontalis,  the  arch  of  the  top  of  the  cranium  is  markedly 
flat,  giving  the  Stephanie  region  a  somewhat  angular  appearance.  In  the 
parieto-occipital  region  the  contour  of  the  cranium  falls  with  a  moderate 
curve  towards  the  foramen  magnum.  The  general  surface  of  the  cranunn 
is  smooth,  and  tlie  muscular  ridges  are  little  j^ronounced.  The  mastoid 
processes  are  feebly  developed. 

The  sutures  are  very  simple  in  No.  2,  but  somewhat  more  complicated 
in  No.  1,  though  still  simple;  those  in  the  former  being  represented  by 
Broca's  outlines  of  complication  of  sutures  No.  2  for  the  fron to-parietal, 
and  No.  3  for  the  parieto-occipital  suture,  the  latter  by  No.  2 — 3  for  the 
frontoparietal,  and  No.  4  for  the  parieto-occipital.  Wormian  bones  are 
not  present  in  either  skull.  In  No.  2  the  sutures  are  more  open  than  in 
No.  1,*  in  which  the  coronal  and  sagittal  sutures  are  approaching 
obliteration. 

With  regard  to  the  projection  of  the  zygomatic  arches,  in  relation  to 
the  contour  of  the  bi-stephanic  region.  No.  2  is  slightly  phrenozygous, 
but  in  No.  1  the  arches  are  not  visible,  bi-zygo-stephanic  index  being 
87-7  in  No.  1,  and  913  in  No.  2.  In  my  paper  on  the  Cranial  Characters 
of  the  Natives  of  Timor-laut,t  I  showed  that  f-kuUs  in  which  this  index  is 
90  and  upwards  are  phaenozygous ;  these  Kubu  skulls  are  therefore  on 
the  border-line  between  the  tvvo  conditions.  The  inion  is  fully  developed 
in  both  skulls,  being  represented  by  Broca's  outline  No.  1. 

The  average  horizontal  circumference  of  the  two  skulls  is  410  mm.,  10 
mm.  less  than  the  average  circumference  of  the  heads  of  the  five  living 
females  measured  by  Mr.  Forbes. 

Facial  portion. — The  nasal  bones  have  a  very  characteristic  shape;  they 
are  not  moderately  prominent  in  respect  to  the  plane  of  the  face,  and 
form  a  gentle  curve  from  above  downwards,  being  intermediate  in  curve 
between  Broca's  outlines  Nos.  1  and  2.  The  nasal  aperture  differs  in  the 
two  skulls:  in  No.  1  it  is  longer  and  slightly  narrower  than  in  No.  2,  the 
index  of  the  former  being  50,  while  that  of  the  latter  is  5G-8,  which  places 
No.  1.  in  the  middle  of  the  mesorhine  group  (48—53),  and  No.  2  well 
within  the  platyrhine  (above  53).  The  inferior  border  is  nearly  straight 
transversly,  and  is  fairly  well  defined.  The  nasal  spine  of  No.  1  is 
represented  by  Broca's  outline  No.  2,  and  in  skull  No.  2  by  the  outline  of 
No.  1. 

The  orbits  are  somewhat  more  rounded  in  No.  1  thaa  in  No.  2,  the 
orbital  index  of  the  former  being  89  2  anrl  of  the  latter  80"1.  The 
margins  of  the  orbits  are  thin  an  1  sharply  defined. 

*  Eeport  of  the  Anthrop.  Committee  of  the  Brit.  Assoc.  (Kep.  Brit.  Assoc. 
V.  260,  18S3). 

t  Journ.  Anthrop.  Inst.  vcl.  xiii.  p.  391  (1884). 


IN  SUM  ATS  J.  263 

The  malar  bones  are  narrow  vertically,  flattened  anteriorly,  and  curve 
abruptly  backwards,  which  gives  that  marked  prominence  at  the  malar 
point  so  well  seen  in  the  drawings  by  Mr.  Forbes.  The  nasi-malar  angle 
of  No.  1  skull  is  143^  and  of  the  other  140°. 

The  alveolar  index  of  the  two  skulls  is  very  similar,  being  96"9  in  No.  1, 
and  98"8  in  No.  2.  They  are  therefore  on  the  border-laud,  figuratively 
speaking,  between  orthognathous  and  me^ognathous. 

The  palato-maxillary  index  of  No.  1  is  126,  and  of  No.  2,  120-4, 
measuring  the  length  and  breadth  of  this  region  according  to  Professor 
Flower's  plan.  The  palate  is  comparatively  flat.  The  teeth  are  in  good 
condition,  small  in  size,  and  little  worn.  In  No.  1  the  two  upper  incisors 
have  been  lost  during  life. 

The  relation  of  the  breadth  of  the  middle  portion  of  the  face,  from  the 
alveolar  point  to  the  nasion.to  the  bi-zygomatic  breadth  (the  latter  being 
taken  as  100),  is  as  52'5  and  b'Si)  to  100  in  the  two  skulls  respectively. 
This  is  the  mid- facial  index  of  Kolmann,  and  shows  a  very  close  similarity 
in  the  two  skulls. 

The  diflerent  measurements  of  the  mandible  show  great  similarity. 
The  chief  point  to  be  noted  in  this  bone  is  the  obtuseness  of  the  symphesial 
angle,  which  is  84°  in  the  one,  and  88°  in  the  other  skull,  indicating  a 
mucli  more  vertical  chin  than  obtains  generally  in  Europeans. 

The  pelvis  not  being  articulated,  J  was  unable  to  ascertain  all  the 
measurements  which  should  be  taken,  but  I  measured  the  transverse  and 
antero-posterior  diameter  of  the  brim,  which  are  undoubtedly  the  most 
important  dimensions.  The  transverse  diameter  of  the  brim  measured 
177  mm.,  and  the  antero-])osterior  diameter  122,  which  gives  a  pelvic 
index  (taking  the  transverse  diameter  as  100)  of  104'3.  The  index  of 
forty-nine  European  female  pelves,  measured  by  Verneau  and  myself, 
was  7*J'0 ;  while  that  of  thirteen  Andamanese,  measured  by  myself,  was 
962.  The  antero-posterior  length  in  comparison  to  the  transverse 
breadth  of  the  brim  in  this  Kubu  woman's  pelvis  is  extreme ;  indeed  1 
have  never  yccn  or  measured  a  pelvis  of  so  exaggerated  a  type,  approach- 
ing in  form  nearly  to  that  of  the  anthropomorphous  apes.  The  great 
antero-posterior  length  of  this  specimen  is  dvio  chiefly  to  the  straightness 
of  the  sacrum.  It  is  extremely  desirable  that  additional  specimens 
should  be  procured,  so  as  to  ascertain  Avhether  such  a  form  of  pelvis  is 
normal  in  tins  race. 

The  scapular  index,  or  the  ratio  of  the  breadth  of  the  scapula  to  the 
length,  the  latter  being  taken  as  100,  is  7295  in  the  Kubu,  in  the 
Europeans  (Flower  and  mj.sclf)  G52,  in  Negroes  (Broca)  68'16,  and  in 
Andamanese  (Flower)  698. 

The  limb  bones  arc  slender;  the  index, obtained  by  comparison  of  the 
upper  and  lower  limbs  with  each  other — the  inter-membral  index,  or  the 
length  of  the  humerus  and  radius  added  together— com])ared  with  that 
of  tlic  femur  and  tibia  (the  latter  being  taken  as  100),  is  70.  This  index 
in  Europeans  measured  by  Professors  Broca  and  Flower  was  found  to  bo 
092  and  G973  respectively ;  in  Negroes  Broca  ascertained  it  to  bo  G8  27 ; 
and  in  nineteen  Andamanese  Flower  found  it  to  be  683. 

This  high  index  shows  an  ai)proximati(m  in  the  pro])ortions  of  the  limbs 
of  the  Kubus  to  those  of  the  anthropoid  apes,  and  indicates  that  the 
length  of  the  ui)i)er  limb  is  considerably  greater  in  ])roportion  than  that 
of  the  lower  as  compared  to  v.liat  obtains  in  Europeans.  In  the  Negro 
and  the  Andamanese,  on  the  other  hantl,  the  ui^per  limb  is  proportion- 
ately shorter  than  the  lower. 

The  femoro-lunneral  index,  or  the  ratio  of  the  humerus  to  the  femur, 
the  latter  being  taken  as  100,  is  75-2.     In  twenty  Europeans  measured 


264  A  NATURALIST'S    WANBERINOS 

by  Broca  and  Flower  it  is  72-4:5,  in  sixteen  Negro'rs  (Broca)  69"79,  and  in 
nineteen  Andaraanese  (Flower)  69"8.  In  this  index  also  tlie  variation 
in  the  Kubus  from  the  Europeans  is  in  an  oj^posite  direction  to  that  of 
the  Negroes  and  the  Andamanese. 

The  femoro- tibial  index,  or  the  ratio  of  the  tibia  to  the  femur,  tlie 
latter  being  taken  as  100,  is  807  in  the  Kubu,  82' 1  in  the  European 
(Flower),  847  in  the  Negro  (Humphrey),  and  84-5  in  the  Andamanese 
(Flower). 

The  humero-radial  index,  or  the  length  of  the  radius  compared  to  the 
humerus,  the  latter  being  taken  as  lUO,  is  74-1,  in  Europeans  (Broca  and 
Flower)  73*9,  in  Negroes  (Broca)  79  4,  and  in  Andamanese  (Flower)  81'0. 

Relations  of  the  Kubus  to  other  Races. 

I  have  already  faid  that  on  comparing  the  two  skulls  side  by  side,  one 
is  struck  with  the  close  resemblance  they  bear  to  one  another.  Tliere  is 
quite  as  close  a  resemblance  between  these  two  skulls  as  exists  between 
Andamanese  skulls.  Such  a  condition  occurring  in  a  sufficiently  large  serie-* 
would  indicate  jiurity  of  race,  or  at  least  isolation  for  a  long  period  of 
years.  Unfortunately  the  number  of  Kubu  skulls  before  us  is  not 
sufficiently  large  to  justify  very  definite  statements  regarding  them, 
though  I  think  sufficient  to  answer  one  question  which  presents  itself 
to  us  for  solution :  namely,  as  to  what  race  the  Kubus  are  allied — whether 
tliey  possess  Negrito  or  Malayan  affinities.  The  character  of  the  hair, 
the  form  of  the  nose,  the  various  characters  of  the  skull,  and  the  i^ro- 
portion  of  the  limb  bones  show  that  they  cannot  have  any  near  affinity 
to  the  Negrito  race  found  in  various  parts  of  the  Indo-Malayan  Archi- 
pelago, but  that  they  are  decidedly  Malays,  and  therefore  Mongoloid. 
The  high  nasi-malar  angle,  the  high  and  broad  face,  the  flat  forehead 
owing  to  absence  of  all  glabellar  and  superciliary  ridges,  the  slight  sub- 
glabeilar  nasal  depression.,,  and  the  nomadic  life  they  lead,  are  all  highly 
characteristic  of  the  ]\Tongolian  race. 

The  frizzle  in  the  hair  seen  in  the  drawings  by  Mr.  Forbes  is  probably 
to  be  accounted  for  by  their  having  at  some  remote  period  intermingled 
slightly  with  the  Negrito  people,  possibly  during  their  migration 
southward.  There  is,  however,  evidence  that  they  have  for  a  long  period 
been  isolated  from  the  other  surrounding  inhabitants  of  the  island,  and 
that  by  absence  of  infusion  of  fresh  blood  they  have  come  to  resemble  one 
another  so  closely  that  they  now  possess  certain  definite  characteristics  of 
a  more  or  less  stable  nature.  It  is,  however,  very  desirable  that  these 
observations  should  be  extended  by  a  study  of  a  larger  q\;antity  of 
material  from  which  to  gather  information  than  has  been  at  my  disposal. 
.  In  the  meantime  we  have  to  thank  Mr.  Forbes  for  the  trouble  he  has  been 
at  to  secure  what  must  be  considered  a  very  valuable  addition  to  our 
specimens  illustrating  the  osteology  of  the  Indo-Malayan  Archipelago. 

[From  the  Journal  of  the  Anthropological  Institute  for  November, 
1884.] 


IN   SUMATBA. 


265 


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268  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


II.— LIST  OF  THE  BIRDS  OF  SUMATRA. 

"  The  first  systematic  account  of  the  avi-fauna  of  Sumatra  "  (I  quote 
from  the  late  Lord  Tweeddale's  valuaV)le  paper.  On  a  collection  of  birds 
made  in  the  Lampongs  in  1876  by  Mr.  E.  C.  Buxton,  in  the  Ibis  for  1877, 
page  283)  "was  Avrittcn  by  Sir  Stamford  Raffles  at  Fort  Marlborough, 
near  Bencoolen.  .  .  Most  of  the  birds  enumerated  were  obtained  in  the 
vicinity  of  Bencoolen  itself,  or  during  short  trips  into  the  interior  of 
the  district  of  that  name,  during  the  years  1819  and  1820,  partly  by 
Sir  Stamford,  assisted  by  Dr.  Joseph  Arnold,  and  partly  by  Messrs. 
Diard  and  Duvaucel.  These  two  gentlemen  were  French  naturalists, 
whose  services  Sir  Stamford  had  secured  while  on  a  visit  to  Bengal.  An 
unfortunate  misunderstanding  that  soon  after  their  arrival  in  Sumatra 
occurred  between  the  Lieutenant-Governor  and  these  two  Frenchmen, 
led,  in  about  twelve  months,  to  a  cessation  of  their  latours,  and  to  their 
departure  from  Bencoolen ;  and  Sir  Stamford  was  o})liged  to  undertake 
the  description  of  the  materials  collected  himself,  or  to  allow  the  results 
to  be  published  in  France.  Hence  his  papers  in  the  '  Ijinnean  Trans- 
actions.' The  number  of  species  therein  catalogued,  and  more  or  less 
described,  is  about  168.  But  some  birds  obtained  in  the  Prince-of- Wales 
Island  and  Singapore  are  included,  and  a  few  species  appear  to  have 
been  introduced  into  the  list  through  oversight,  and  on  the  strength  of 
caged  birds. 

"  In  1830,  Lady  Raffles  published  a  memoir  of  her  late,  husband,  to 
which  was  appended  a  catalogue,  by  Vigors,  of  the  zoological  specimens 
collected  in  Sumatra.  .  .  .     About  194  species  are  enumerated. 

"  Since  1830,  no  attempt  at  a  complete  account  of  the  birds  of  Sumatra  has 
been  published  ;  but  a  good  many  species  not  contained  in  Vigors'  list  have 
been  discovered  and  described,  principally  by  the  Dutch  zoologists,  more 
particularly  by  Temminck  and  by  Solomon  Miiller.  Mr.  A.  R.  Wallace, 
during  a  stay  of  about  three  months  in  the  year  1861,  collected  some  birds 
in  the  district  of  Palembang,  penetrating  a  hundred  and  twenty  miles 
inland ;  but  no  separate  account  of  his  collection  has  appeared. 

"  During  a  period  of  about  five  months,  commencing  the  30th  of  May 
1876,  Mr.  Edmond  C.  Buxton  travelled  in  the  Lampong  district  ...  He 
started  from  Telok  Betong.  and  went  inland  to  Sukadana,  a  distance  of 
about  eighty  miles,  and  obtained  in  all  152  species,  of  which  two  were 
undescribed." 

''  From  1877-1879,  the  Dutch  mid-Sumatra  expedition,  through  the 
Padang  Highlands  and  along  the  Batang  Hari  river,  added  much  to  our 
knowledge  of  the  natural  history  of  that  region. 

From  June  to  September,  1878,  Dr.  Beccari,  the  well-known  Italian 
naturalist,  visited  and  collected  on  the  mountains  of  Padang,  chiefly  on 
Mount  Singalan  (8900  feet).  It  contained  representatives  of  many  Indo- 
Chinese  genera  which  have  not  l)een  found  in  the  Lampongs,  some  of 
which  were,  however,  collected  by  the  Author  in  the  more  Southern 
residency  of  Palembang. 

In  August  of  the  same  year,  Mr.  Carl  Bock,  a  Swedish  naturalist, 
collected  over  the  same  region  on  belialf  of  the  late  Lord  Tweeddale,. 
obtaining  166  species.  An  account  of  this  collection  by  Captain  Wardlaw 
Ramsay  will  be  found  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  Zoological  Society  of 
London,  1880,  p.  13. 

During  1880-1881,  the  Author  made  extensive  collections  in  the  Lam- 
pong and  Palembang  Residencies,  which  have  been  carefully  Avorked  out 
by  Mr.  F.  Nicholson,  and  a  list  given  in  the  Ibis  for  1879,  pp.  51  and  235. 


IN  SUMATRA.  269 


Astur  trivirgiitus,  Tevnn.     Lniiipongs. 

sulntnsis.     Lath. 
Accipiter  virgalus,  Temm.     Padang. 
Neo|)iis  malayensis,  Temm. 
SpizaelUa  liuinaetus,  Horsf. 
Spilorais  palliduEi,  Wuld.     Larapongs. 

bacha,  Dand.     Paleuib;ing.     Lampongs. 
H;iliastur  iutermediu:-,  Gam. 
]\Iilviis  govinda,  Sijkes. 
Pernis  ptilonorliyncliiis,  Temm. 
Baza  sumatrensis,  Lafr.     Palcmbang. 
ilicTohierax  fringillarius,  Brap.     Lampongs.     Palembang. 
Fak'O  peregriuus,  Gm. 

inclanogenys,  Gould. 
Polioretus  huniilis,  Mul.  and  Schl.     Pali  mbar.g. 

ichtbvaetus,  Horsf. 
Ketupa  javancnsis.  Less.     Lampongs. 
Bubo  orientalL-,  Uorff. 
Scops  lempiji,  Horsf.     Lampongs. 

rufescens,  Horsf. 
Glaucidium  sylvaticum,  Bp. 
Xinox  scutulata,  Rnffl.     Lampongs. 
Syrnium  myrtlja,  Bp.     Palembang. 
Ehopodytes  erythroiinathus,  Hartl.     I.ampjngs. 

diardi,  Less.     Lampongs. 
Ceutrococcyx  eurvcercus,  Hay.     Lampongs.     Palcmbang. 

javanensis,  Dum.     Palembang. 
Zanclostomus  javanicns,  Horsf.     Lampongs.     Palembang. 
Surniculus  lugubris,  L.     Lampongs. 
Chrysococcyx  xantborhynchus,  Horsf. 
Hierococcyx  fugax,  Horsf.     Lampongs. 
Penthoceryx  pravatus,  Horsf.     Lampongs. 
Rhinortlia  chlorpbtBa,  Raffl. 

Clirysopblegma  mystacalis,  Salv.     Padang.     Palembang. 
Xylolepus  validus,  Boffl.     Lampongs.     Palembang. 
Tbriponax  javensis,  Horsf.     Lanipmigs. 
Tiga  rafflesi.  Vigors.     Lampongs. 

javanensis,  Ljunrj. 
lyngipicns  auritus,  Eijt.     Lampongs. 
Calloloplius  mentalis,  Temm.     Lampongs. 
puuiccus,  Horsf.     Lampongs- 
midaccen-is,  Lath. 
Micropternus  bndius.  Baffl. 
Mciglyptca  tri-stis,  Horsf.     Lampongs. 
tnkki,  Horsf.     Lampongs. 
Dendiotyprs  i.nulis,  Horsf.     Lampongs, 
Hcniourus  sordidus,  Kijt.     Lampongs. 
Loriculns  galguhi>%  L.     Palcmbang. 
Palseornis  longicaudn,  Bodd.     Palend)ang. 
Psittinus  incertus.  Shair.     Lampongs. 
On  scius  gouldi,  Bp.     Palcmbang. 
IIari>actes  duvauceli,  Temm.     Lampongs. 
kasumba,  Bufllcs.     Lampongs. 
f-rylhrocephaIu«,  Gould. 
Batracliostonius  cnrnutus,  Temm.     Lamijongs. 
f'aprimulgus  pulchcUus,  Sale.     Padang. 
Lynciiinis  tcmmincki,  Gatdd.     Lampongs. 
JMtTops  .sumatra:ia,  Baffles.     liampongs.     Palcmbang. 

)>bili|)pinus.  L.     Padang. 
Nyctiornis  auiicta,  Temm.     Lampongs.     Palembang. 
Mcgalacma  niy.stacoj)bano.s,  Temm.     Lampongs. 
cbrysnpiigon,  Temm.     Lampongs. 

19 


270  A    NATURALIST'S    WANDEltlSGS 


Sasia  abnormis,  Temm.     Lampnn?;s. 
Cypselus  siibfurotus,  Bhjtii.     Padancr- 
Collocalia  t'rancica,  Gni.     Padaiisc. 
Macroptciyx  comatus,  Temm.     Lampongs. 

longipeiinis,  llnffl.     Lampongs. 
Carcineu'es  pulchellus,  Hum/.     Lampongs.     Palcmban^ 
Halcyon  pileata,  Bodd.     Lampongs.     Palembaug. 
Sauiopntis  cliloiis,  Bodd.     Lampongs. 
Pelargopsis  fiaseri,  Sliarpe.     Lampongs.     Palembang. 
Alcedo  curyzona,  Shiw.     Lampongs. 
meuinting,  Ilorsf.     Ijampongs. 
bengaleusis,  Gm.     Lampongs. 
Ceyx  rufidorsa,  Less.     Lampong-.     Palembang. 
]\lL'gala3ma  versicolor,  Bajfles.     Lampongs. 
Kantholajma  rosea,  Dumont.     T>ampongs. 

ha^macepliala,  3Ldl.     Lampongs. 

duvaucelli.  Less.     liampongs. 
Caloramphns  bayi,  Gray.     Padang. 
Psilopogun  pyroloplms,  Midi.     Pakmbaug. 
Hydrocissa  albirostris,  Shaw.     Lampongs. 
Authracocerus  malayauus,  Baffles.     Lampongs. 

Cimvexus,  Temm.     Lampongs. 
Anorhiuus  galeritus,  Temm.     Lampongs. 
Eliytidueerus  undulatus,  Shair.     Lampongs. 

subrufficollis,  Blyth.  Palembang. 
Buceros  rhinoceros,  L.  Palembaug.  Lampongs 
Coroiift  macrorliyuclia,  Warjl. 

enca,  Horsf. 
Dendroeitta  occipitalis,  Miill. 
Crypsirliiua  varians.  Lath. 
Cissa  chinensis,  Bodd,  var.  minor,  Cuh. 
Platysmurus  leucopterus,  Temm. 
Oriolus  macnlatus,  Vieill.     Palembang. 
xanthonotns,  Ilorsf.     Palembaug 
cruentus,  TFti;//. 
Dicrurus  anncctens,  Hodijs.     Palembaug. 

snmatranus,  W.  Bams. 
Chaptia  malayensis,  Bhjth. 
Bucbanga  cineracea,  Ilorsf. 
lihringa  rcsmifer,  Temm. 
Dissemurus  paradiseus,  L. 
Irena  criuiger,  Sharpe.     Palembang. 
Tcplirodornis  gularis,  Baffl. 
Ilemipus  intei-niedius,  Salv.     Padang. 

obscurus,  Horsf. 
Plat.vlo]ilius  coronatus,  Baffl.     Lampongs. 
Cocboa  beccarii,  Salvad. 
Avtamides  sumatrensis,  MM. 
Graucalus  melanocepiialus,  Salrnd.     Padang. 
Pericrucotus  xauthogaster,  Raffl.     Palembang. 

moutanus,  Salvad. 

cineiens,  Lafr. 

jieregrinus,  L. 
Lalagc  terat,  Bodd. 

fimbriata,  Temm.,  var.  culminata,  Haij. 
Alseouax  laticostris,  Ii'affl. 
Poliomyias  luteola,  Pali     Palembang. 
Muscicapula  liypcrytlna,  Blijtli. 

maculata. 
Xantbopygia  cyauomeltcna,  Temm 
Hypothymis  azurea,  Bodd. 

occipitalis,  Vvj. 


IN  SUMATRA.  271 


Khipidura  javanica,  Sparrm. 
perlata,  3Iiill. 
albicollis,  Vieill. 
salvadorii,  Sharpe. 
Terpsiplione  affinis,  Bli/fh. 

incii,  Gould. 
Philentoma  pyrrhopteruin,  Temm. 

velatum,  Teinni. 
Rhinomyias  pectoralis,  Salcad. 
Culicicapa  coyloneiisis.  Swains.     Palembang. 
Stopaiola  ruficrlssa,  Salvad.     Padang. 
concreta,  Mull. 
thalassirioides,  Salcad. 
Sipliia  elegans,  Temm.     Lampougs.     Palembang. 

sumatrensis,  Sharpe. 
Digenca  solitaria,  3Iull.     Padang. 
Niltava  grandis,  Bh/th.     Padang. 
Phylloscopiis  borealis,  Bias. 

viridipenuis,  Bh/th. 
Lusciniola  fuligiiiivcntiis,  Hodgs. 
Geociclila  sibirica,  Fall.  ' 

Tuidus  cabauisi,  Bp. 
yEgitliina  viridissiina,  Bp. 

tipliiii,  L.  var.  viridis,  Bp. 

var.  scapularis,  Rorsf. 
Chloropsis  viridis,  Horsf. 

zosterops,  Vigors. 
media,  Bp. 
ieterocepbala,  Less. 
cyanopogon,  Temm. 
veiiusta,  Bp. 
Hcmixus  cinoreus,  Bhjth. 

iiialaccensis,  lihjth. 
suuiiitrauus,  Wardl.  Rams. 
lole  olivacea,  Blyth. 
Pinarociclila  euptilosa,  Jard.  &  Selb. 
Micropns  meliinocephalup,  Gm. 
Criniger  phajocephalus,  Haiti. 

gutturalis,  Bp. 
TrichoU'stes  criniger,  Blijth. 
Trachyeoiiiiis  ocliroeephaliis,  Gm. 
Pycaonotus  biniaculatus,  Ilvrsf. 
analis,  Ilvrsf. 
])lumo.siis,  Bhjth. 
siinitlex.  Less. 
salvailoiii,  Sharpe. 
leucogranimicus,  Miill. 
tygus,  Bp. 
Rubigula  dispar,  Ilorsf. 

cyaniventris,  Bhjth. 
squama ta,  Temm. 
wehlturi,  Hume. 
Irena  crinigcra,  Sharpe. 
Piinepyga  pusilla,  Hodgs. 
Orthotuiuus  atrigularis,  Temm.     Lampongs. 

cincraceous,  Bhjth.     Lampongs.     Palembang 
nificei)s.  Less.     Lampongs. 
HOpiiiiii,  Horsf. 
Phyl'.ergatcs  (Miciilhitus,  Temm.     Palembang. 
Hydrociclila  nilica|iilla.  Temm.     Lampongs. 
fro)itali.H,  llhjth.     T,niiipfiiigd. 
velatus    Temm      Palembang. 


272  J    NATUBALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

Eupetes  macrocerciis,  Temm. 

Sibia  similliina,  Huhad.     Palembang. 

Gairulax  bicnlor,  Haiti.     Palembang. 

palliatus,  Temm.     Palembjiig.     PaJang. 
IVTelanocichla  lugubris,  Miill.     Padang. 
RliinociL-lila  mitrata,  S.  Miill.    Lara  pongs.     Palembang. 
Stachyris  larvata,  Bp.     Palembang. 

poliocephala,  Temm.     Palembang. 
nigrieollis,  Temm. 
thoracica,  Temm. 
maculata,  Temm. 
Turdlnus  magnirostris,  Moore. 

loricatus,  Miill.     Padang. 
rufipectus,  t^alo.     Padang. 
Erythrociclila  bicolor,  Less.     Palembang, 
Urymorataphns  nigricapitatus,  Eijtoa.     Lampougs. 
Trichostoma  rostiatum,  Bhjth. 
Myiophoneus  dicrorhynchus,  Scdvad.     Palembang.     Padang. 

melanurus,  Salvad.     Lampongs.     Palembang.    Padang. 

castaneus,  Wardl.  Hams.     Padang. 
Bracliypteryx  buxtoui,  Tweed.     Lampongs. 

flaviventris,  lr>alvad.     Padang. 

umVjratilis,  Strickl.     Palembang. 

saturatus,  Salvad.     Palembang. 
Copsychus  musicus,  Eaffl.     Lampongs. 
Cittocincla  tricolor,  Vieill,  var.  suavis  Sel.     Lampongs. 
Suya  albigularis,  Hume.     Palembang. 
Prinia  familiaris,  Horsf.     Lampongs. 
Burnesia  flaviventris,  Deless.     Lampongs.     Padang. 
Malacopterum  magnum,  Eijt.     Palembang.     Lampongs. 

cinereum,  Eijt.     Palembang. 

lepidoeephalum,  Gr. 

affine,  Blijth.     Palembang. 
Jlixoruis  gularis,  Buffl.     Palembang. 

erytliroptera,  Bhjth.     Lampongs.     Palembang. 
Macronus  ptilosus,  Jard.  &  Sdb.     liampongs.     Palembang, 
Anuropsis  malaccensis,  Haiti.     Palembang. 
Turdinulus  murinus,  Blyth. 
Rimator  albostriatus,  Salvad. 
Stac-hyridopsis  assimilis,  Wald.     Palembang. 
Mesia  lauiinse,  Salvad.     Padang. 
Parus  sultaneus,  Hodgs. 

cinereus,  Bonn.  &  Vieill. 
Ptererytlirius  roralatus,  Tichell,  var.  cameranoi,  Salvad.    Padang. 
Pacliycephala  grisola,  Bhjth. 

bruneicauda,  Salvad. 
Lanius  tigrinns,  Vrapiez.     Pakmbaug. 

bentet,  Horsf.     Padang. 
Sitta  frontalis,  Horsf. 
Clialcostetha  insignis,  Temm. 
iEthopyga  temminc-ki,  Miill. 

siparaja,  Baffl,. 
Cinnyris  hasselti,  Temm.     Bencoolcn.     Palembang. 

pectoralis,  Horsf.     Palembang. 
Araclinothera  crassirostris,  B^ich. 

longirostris,  Lath.     Palembang. 

affinis,  Horsf.     Palembang. 

chrysogcnys,  Temm.     Bencoolen. 

flaviventris,  Gadoic. 
Authotlireptes  hypogrammiea,  Miill. 

simplex,  Miill. 

phtenicotis,  Temm.    Palembang. 


JN  SUMATRA.  27i3 


Anthothreptes  malaccensis,  Scop.    Palcmbaug.     Bencooltn. 
Zosterops  aureiventer,  Hume.     Lnrapongs. 

chlorates,  Haiti.     Palemhang. 

atricapilla,  Salrad.     Padang. 

flava,  Horsf. 

fallax.  Sliirpe. 

frjgida,  Mull. 
Dicajum  flammeum,  Sparin.     T.anipongs. 
olivaceuni,  Wald.     Lainpoiitrs 
irigonostignia,  Scop.     Lampung^. 
Pitta  boscliii,  MiiU.  &  Schl.     Lampougo. 
)nuelleri,  Horsf.     I  ampongs. 
veausta,  Miill.     Paleinbnug. 
Calobatcs  melanope,  Pallas.     Lampoiigs. 
liudytes  viridis,  Gm.     Lampoiigs. 
Anthus  rufaliis,  I'. 
Hiruiido  javaiiica,  Sparm. 

Cymborbyucbus  niai.Torhyiichus,  Gm.    Lampongs. 
Calyploincua  viridis,  liojles.     Liiiupoiigs. 
Eurlyffiiuus  ocliroraLlas.  liaffl. 
javanicus,  Horsf. 
Corydon  suii;atrauiis,  Baffles.     Liimpongs. 
Calornis  clialybea,  Horsf.     Lampongs. 
Sturiiopaster  contra,  L.     Lampongs. 
Gracula  javanensis,  Osh.     Lampongs. 
Artaraiis  leucogister,  Val.     liampongs. 
Analcipus  crueutus,  TFcjjZ.     Padaug. 
Padda  orizivora,  Ij.     Lampongs. 
Munia  maja,  L.     Laniponjrs. 

punctularia,  L.     T'alembang. 
leucogastroides,  Moore.     Lampongs. 
atricapilla,  V.     Palembang. 
PIoccus  maculatus,  Mull.     Lampongs. 
Erytlirura  ]irasina,  Sparm.     Lampongs. 
Treron  nipalen^is,  Hodijs.     Lampongs. 
Butreron  capellei,  Temm.     Lamponga. 
Sphenocercus  oxyuiu-!,  Iteinic. 
Osmotreron  vernanj;,  L.     Lampongs.     Padang. 

olax,  Tfmm.     Lampongs. 
Spilopelia  tigiina,  Temm.     Lampongs. 
(luopi'lia  striata,  L.     La. i  pongs. 
Chalcopliaps  indica,  L.     Lampongs. 
Carpophaga  bailia,  Ilaffl.     Lampongs. 

ajnea,  L.     Lampongs.     Palembang.     Padang. 
Macropygi  i  leptogrammica,  Temm. 
Ariiusianus  argus,  L.     Lampongs.     Palembang. 
I'olypleetron  clialcurum,  T.     Palembang. 
Euplocomus  vieilioti.  Gray.     Padang. 
Acuiiuis  inoriuitus,  Salrad.     Padang. 
(iallus  forrugineus,  Gm.     Palembang. 
Rhizotbcra  lungirostris,  Temm. 
Arborophila  personata,  Horsf.     Palembang. 
Pelojuadix  rubriroetiis,  Salvad.     Padang. 
Excalt'actoria  chinensis,  L.     Palembang. 
Kulhilus  rouloul,  Scop.     Lampongs.     Palembang. 
C.do|)ci(lix  oculea.  Temm.     Palembang. 
Turnix  pugnax,  Temm.     Pa  lang. 
Clianxflrius  fulvus,  Gm.     Lnrnpongs. 
iEgialitis  geoflfioyi,  Wiajl.     Lampongs. 
Glnreola  orientalis   Leach.     Lampongs. 
Ardea  pnrpiire;i,  L. 
Herodiai  intermedia,  Hasselt.     Palembang 


274  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


Demigretta  sacra,  Gm.     Lampongs. 
Bubulcus  coromandus,  Bodd.     Palerabang,     Patlanj 
Ardetta  cinnamomea,  Gm.     Padaiig. 
Butorides  javanica,  HorKf.     Paiembang. 
Leptoptilus  javauicus,  Ilontf.     Paleinbang. 
Tantalus  lacteus,  Temm.     Palembang. 
Totauus  glareola,  L.     Lampongs. 
Tringoides  hypoleucus,  L.     Lampongs. 
Scolopax  rusticola,  L. 

Khynchaja  capensis,  L.     Padang.     Palembang. 
Hypotainidia  striata,  L.     Palembang.     Padang. 
Erythra  phcenicura,  Frtr»f.     Lampongs. 
Dendrocygna  arcuata,  Her."/. 
Sterna  media,  Horsf. 
Lergii,  Licht. 


III.— ADDITIONS  TO  THE  INSECT  FAUNA  OF  SUMATRA. 

Descriptions  of  Lepidotera  discovered  hy  the  Author  in  Sumat^-a. 

The  descriptions  of  species  urder  Mr.  Smith's  or  Mr.  Butler's  name,  haA^e 
been  kindly  prepared  by  them  for  mc. 

NYMPHALIDii:. 

Trepsichrois  van-deventeri,  mihi,  sp.  nov. — Intermediate  between  T. 
mnlciber  of  Borneo  and  T.  h'nnei ;  differs  from  the  former  in  the  slightly 
larger  spots  on  fore-wings  of  male,  and  in  the  well-deflned  whiter  mark- 
ings in  the  female — in  T.  mtdciber  they  are  brownish ;  from  T.  linnei  it 
differs  in  its  smaller  size,  less  angulated  fore-wings,  smaller  spots  on 
these  wings  in  both  sexes  and  much  narrower  streaks  on  hind- wings  of 
female;  it  occurs  in  Sumatra,  Malacca,  and  Cachar  (Assam).  Lampongs, 
No.  99.  This  species  is  named  in  honour  of  Mr.  Justice  Van  Deventer. 
of  the  Dutch-Indian  Bench. 

Kcdlima  spiridiva,  Smith,  sp.  nov. — Upper  side :  anterior  wing,  xniiform 
dark  brown,  almost  black,  crossed  from  the  centre  of  the  costa  to  the 
inner  angle  by  a  broad  band  of  pale  blue,  in  wliich  between  the  first  and 
second  median  nervures  is  a  small  vitreous  spot ;  a  small  white  spot  near 
the  apex,  which  is  not  falcate,  as  in  j^nralecta  and  other  sjiecies  of  this 
genus.  ■"  Posterior  wings  with  an  irregular,  almost  obsolete,  sixb-marginal 
black  line.  Both  wings  with  a  slight  purple  gloss.  Under  side  :  with 
markings  and  spots  resembling  paraJccta,  but  the  colouring  is  subject  to 
variation,  as  of  the  two  examples  I  have,  one  is  ricii  brown,  and  the 
other  olive-green.  Expansion,  3^  inches.  '1  lus  species  is  about  the  same 
size  as  A',  alhofasciata,  but  is  distinct  from  it  as  well  as  from  parahcta. 
Sumatra.     Type  in  Mus.  H.  G.  Smith,  Esq. 

Cethosia  caroUnir,  mihi,  sp.  nov. — Differs  from  the  C.  menalis  in  having 
the  transverse  black  lines  more  uniform  in  width,  and  the  white  patch 
at  centre  of  external  area  of  iore-wings  of  little  more  than  half  the  width ; 
the  sub-apical  white  spots  are  also  smaller,  and  the  orange  patch  at  anal 
angle  of  hind-wings  is  considerably  larger.  Sumatra.  Hoodjoong, 
Palembang  Ecsidency.  No.  215.  I  have  named  this  species  in  recog- 
nition of  the  kindness  of  my  sister-in-law,  Miss  C.  Keith,  who  aided  me 
greatly  in  the  preparation  of  my  MS.  for  the  printers. 

Cyrestes  irrnx,  mihi,  sjx  nov. — Intermediate  between  C.  methypsca  and 


IN  SUMATRA.  275 


C.  penthesilia  ;  fore-wings  with  the  markings  of  the  latter  species,  hind- 
wings  most  like  methypsea,  but  with  a  broader  external  black  margin  ; 
under  side  similar  to  that  species,  but  with  the  white  marginal  line  more 
deeply  scalloped  and  better  marked,  and  the  pale  markings  generally 
whiter.  Sumatra.  Palembang  Eesidency.  Xo.  4:13.  Named  in  honour 
of  the  wife  and  elder  daughter  of  Surgeon  Julius  jyiachik,  of  the  Dutch- 
Indian  army. 

PAriLIOXID.^. 

Ixias  flavipcnnis,  Smith,  sp.  nov. — Upper  side :  both  wings  orange- 
yellow;  from  the  base,  extended  over  about  two-thirds  of  the  wings, 
shaded  with  gray,  the  nervures  and  remainder  of  the  wings  dark  brown. 
Under  side :  both  wings  yellow,  mottled  with  brown ;  anterior  wing, 
with  a  black  spot  at  tiie  end  of  the  cell,  and  an  irregular  sub-marginal 
row  of  brown  spots  confluent,  extending  from  the  costa  to  the  inner 
angle ;  posterior  wing  with  a  sub-marginal  row  of  brown  spots  com- 
mencing on  the  costa  between  the  nervures  and  extending  to  the  third 
median  nervule,  and  a  black  spot  on  the  first  disco-cellular  ncrvule. 
Expansion,  2i  inches.  Hab.,  Mount  Dempo,  4C00  feet.  Type  in  Mus. 
11.  G.  Smith,  Esq. 

Amnosla  eudamia  $  ,  Smith,  sp.  nov. — U|">pcr  side:  both  wings  brown  ; 
anterior  wings  crossed  from  the  centre  of  the  costa  to  the  inner  angle  by 
a  broad  brownish-white  band,  beyond  the  band  the  wings  are  darker 
brown ;  posterior  wings,  with  a  sub-marginal  row  of  five  spots  (smaller 
than  in  decora  $  ),  outside  of  which  are  two  irregular  dark  brown  lines, 
and  inside  one  dark  line.  Under  side :  both  wings  lighter  brown  than  on 
the  upper  side,  with  similar  markings  to  decora,  of  which  it  may  be  a 
variety,  but  it  differs  from  the  female  decora  in  the  lighter  shade  of  the 
bi'own  on  the  upper  side  of  the  wings,  in  the  colour  of  the  band  on  the 
anterior  wings,  in  the  size  of  the  spots  on  the  posterior  wings,  and  on  the 
under  side  in  the  absence  of  the  three  spots  within  the  cell  of  tl:e  jostcrior 
wing,  and  of  the  first  of  the  four  sub-apical  sjwts  on  the  anterior  ving  of 
decora,  and,  in  addition,  it  is  somewhat  larger.  Expansion,  3?  inche? 
Hab.,  Siunatra.     Type  in  Mus.  H.  G.  Smith,  Esq. 

Pa2>,lio  furbc.^i,  Smith,  Jii^to.  iVonth.  JShuj.  p.  234  (1882-83).— Upper 
side :  dark  brown,  almost  black,  the  margins  between  the  nervures  with 
lunular  white  spots,  very  narrow  on  anterior  wing,  much  broader  on 
]K»sterior  wing,  which  is  without  tails ;  anterior  wings  with  longitudinal 
rays  on  each  side  of  the  nervures  of  light  brown,  extending  from  the 
middle  to  the  exterior  margin;  posterior  wing  with  a  row  of  three 
brownish-gray  lunular  si^ots  between  the  median  ncrvulcs,  and  a  spot 
at  the  anal  angle,  above  which  is  a  row  of  three  small  faintly-marked 
spots  of  same  colour.  Under  side :  anterior  wings  rayed  as  above,  but 
paler;  posterior  wing  with  a  longitudinal  red  sjjot  at  the  base,  divided 
l)y  the  prccostal  nervure,  which  is  hlack,  and  a  small  red  spot  below  the 
costal  nervure ;  a  broad  band  of  oclireoas  yellow,  with  a  row  of  black  spots 
in  the  middle,  extending  across  the  wing  between  the  median  ncrvulcs, 
and  a  small  s))Ot  of  ochreons  yellow  beyond  ;  a  black  spot  at  the  top  of 
the  band  next  the  anal  angle,  three  blue  si)ots  near  the  exterior  margin, 
from  the  costal  nervure  to  the  median  nervule.  Expansion,  4  inches. 
Halt.  Banding  Agong,  Sumatra.  This  species  belongs  to  the  Meniiion 
grou]),  in  which,  however,  there  is  notliing  which  resembles  it.  Type  in 
Mus.  H.  G.  Smith,  Es]. 

r.apilio  al  bo/ in  eat  as,  mihi,  sp.  nov. — Allied  to  P.  sa/urmis,  Guer. 
{nephelus,  Dc  Haan);  differs  from  that  species  in  the  greater  width  of 


276  A    NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

tlie  sub-apical  creamy-wliite  band  on  the  fore-win^  (the  five  spots  of 
which  it  is  formed  being  considerably  longer),  in  having  an  additional 
s]iot  of  the  same  colour  at  the  apex  of  the  cell,  and  two  small,  pale 
oshreous  spots  on  the  hind  margin.  The  hind  wings  have  the  discal 
creamy-white  patch  straiglit  on  its  inner  edge,  and  continued  to  the 
abdominal  margin  by  two  additional  pale  ochrcous  spots ;  the  marginal 
spots  of  both  wings  are  also  more  strongly  marked.  The  under  side 
differs  in  having  the  white  markings  generally  more  extended,  and  the 
additional  spot  in  the  cell  of  tlia  fore-wings  as  on  tlie  upper  side.  Hab. 
Borneo.     In  col.  Brit.  Museum. 

In  comparing  an  example  of  PapiJio  mtiirmis  taken  in  Sumatra  with 
the  specimens  in  the  British  Museum,  I  found  tliis  nearly-related  species 
unnamed  in  the  collection,  which  the  authorities  have  kindly  permitted 
me  to  describe  here. 

FapiUo  itam-put I ,  Butler,  sp.  nov. — Allied  to  P.  aJcibiades,  but  the 
black  markings  on  the  primaries  much  broader,  the  fourth  band  forming 
an  acute  triangle ;  the  external  black  border,  occupying  nearly  a  third 
of  the  wing  not  completely  divided  by- the  green  band  (which  is  narrower 
than  in  P.  aJcibiade a),  its  inner  edge  sub-sigmoidal ;  this  border  terminates 
just  below  the  first  median  branches,  not  at  the  external  angle  as  in  P. 
ahihiadea  ;  the  secondaries  have  slightly  longer  tails,  and  the  externo- 
anal  ai'ea  is  greenish-gray,  with  black  outer  margin,  and  two  black  bai's 
near  the  extremity  of  the  median  interspaces ;  on  the  under  surface,  in 
addition  to  the  differences  noted  above,  the  outer  half  of  the  discoidal  cell 
of  the  primaries  is  ochre-yellow,  and  the  external  half  of  the  secondaries 
is  ixniformly  instead  of  partially  ochreous.  J  xpanse  of  wings,  77  millim. 
Lampongs.     In  col.  Brit.  Musnem. 

Description  of  a  new  Longicorn  Colzopteron. 
By  Charles  0.  Wateiecuse,  F.Z.S, 

LAMIIDiE 

Megacriodes  forbesii. 

From  the  Annals  and  jShiqazine  of  Natural  History  for  May,  1881,  and 
figured  in  Janson's  Aids  to  the  Identification  of  Insects. 

Niger,  nitidus,  pube  sublilissima  cinerea  indutus  ;  thoracis  disco  macula  oculata 
ciocea  ornato ;  clvtris  basi  ct  sub  luiraeros  crebrc  granulosis,  plagis  &ex  albis 
ornatis.      Long.  22  lin. 

Near  to  M.  l-'aundersll,  Pas-coe  (Trans.  Ent.  Soc.  3rd  ser.  iii.  p.  272, 1866  ) ; 
but,  judging  from  the  figure  (pi.  xii.  fig.  1),  it  is  a  more  robust  species. 
It  differs  chiefly  in  having  the  base  of  the  elytra  and  all  the  humei-al 
region  thickly  studded  with  .shining  granules.  The  scutellum  is  yellow. 
Each  elytron  has  three  patches  of  white  pubescence  (which  were  doubt- 
less yellow  when  the  insect  was  alive) — the  first  and  second  placed  as  in 
M.  Saundcrsil,  but  very  irregular  in  form  ;  the  third  very  e]on<:ate,  and  as 
if  formed  of  the  two  apical  si)ots  of  i\'.  Saundersll.  The  under.side  is 
clothed  with  yellowish-grey  pile,  with  a  broad  strij^e  along  the  side  from 
behind  the  eye  to  the  apical  segment  of  the  abdomen ;  tin's  stripe  is  part 
yellow  and  part  white;  it  was  probably  yellow  when  the  specimen  was 
alive. 

Hah.  Lampongs,  Sumatra  {H.  0.  Forbes).    Brit.  Museum  Coll. 


IN  SUMATBA.  211 

New  Rhynchota.    By  W.  L.  Distant^  F.L.S. 

(From  the  Ento.  Month.  Mag.  xix.  pp.  156-160.) 

The  following  descriptions  refer  to  species  which  I  have  received 
during  the  last  few  years  in  collections  made  by  Mr.  Forbes.  Our 
present  information  as  to  the  lihynchota  of  Sumatra  is  greatly  due  to 
Snellen  van  Vollenhoven,  whose  studies,  however,  did  i  ot  extend  to  the 
Conidx  of  this  island;  to  Ellenrieder,  who  alone  treated  of  the  P.entato- 
midx  ;  to  various  descriptions  by  the  late  Dr.  Stal;  and  the  same,  in  a 
much  less  satisfactory  sense,  of  the  late  Mr.  Walker.  It  will  be  thus  seen 
that  at  present  our  catalogues  and  collections  of  Sumatran  Hhyuchota  are 
of  the  most  meagre  and  superficial  character  though  we  may  reafonably 
liope  that  this  comparative  ignorance  will  soon  be  greatly  mod ifi'ed  by  the 
publication  of  the  natural  history  section  of  the  late  Dutch  Fxpedition 
into  Central  Sumatra,  f  This  work  has  now  been  completed,  and  contains 
descriptions  of  many  species  new  to  science.     H.  0.  F.] 

HEMIPTE?tA-HETEROPTERA. 
rENTAT0:.IID.E. 

Cahthecona  cognata,  n.  sp.,*    allied   to   C.  javanka — Ent.  M.  Mag., 

p.  157. 
Neosalica  n.  gen.,  allied  to  Piczostemum.     Loc.  cit.  ji.  157. 

„       forbesi,  n.  sp.     Loc.  cit.  p.  157. 

PVERHOt  ORIDiE. 

Loh'ta  grandis,  Gray,  var.  Sumatrana.     Loc.  cit.  158. 

■REUUVIIDifi. 

BantJwus  cocalus,  n.  sp.  allic  1  to  P.  dxdalus,  Stal,  and  P.  nigricepf, 

Eent.     Loc.  cit.  p.  158. 
PcmtJtom  talus,  n.  sp.,  allieJ  to  P.  icarus,  Stal.     Loc.  cit.  \).  159. 

HEMIPTERA-HojIOrXERA. 
CCRCOriDiE.  ( 

Cosmoscarla  Juno,  n.  sp.,  allied  to  C.  viridans,  Guer.     Loc.  cit.  p.  160. 

*  Tlie  descriptions  of  these  species  aro  given  in  full  at  the  given  pages  of  the 
work  cited.     H.  0.  F. 


278 


A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


IV.  ADDITIONS  TO  THE  FLOEA  OF  SUMATRA.. 

Description  of  a  new  Vaccinium.     By  William  Fawcett,  B.Sc,  F.L.S. 

Vaccinium  Forhesii  (sp.  nov.).     Uerb.  Forbes,  in  Mus.  Brit.,  No.  2371. 

Frutex  aut  arbor  ramulis  raccmis  calycibiisqite  pubescentibus,  foliis 
brevi-petiolatis  elb'pticis  utrinque  obtusis  13  mm.  longis  racemis  margini- 
bus  rccurvis  integris  eoriaceis  glabris  .subtus  rufis  imbricatis,  38  mm. 
longis   terminalibus,   floribns   breve-pcdicellatis,  in   axillis   bracteorum 


vAccixirji  FonuESii. 


foliis  paullo  minorum,  calyce  3  mm.  longo  lobis  tixbi  longitudino 
ol>tnsis,  corolla  5-7  mm.  longa  ovoido-tubulari  extus  vix  pubeseente  aut 
glabra  intus  pubeseente  rubra  aut  coccinea  marginibus  albis  (H.  0.  F.), 
filamontis  staminum  pilosis,  loculis  antberarum  ellipticis  minutissimis 
spinulis  tectis  dorso  exaristatis  in  tubulos  breves  rectos  apice  apertos 


IN  SUMATRA.  279 


productis ;  disco  epigyno  pubescente  extrorsum  sinuato ;  bacca  5  mm. 
longa  globoso  pubescente  purpureo-iiigra. 

This  species  differs  from  ^'.  buxi/olium  especially  in  the  bracts  being 
like  the  leaves  and  not  much  smaller,  and  in  the  anthers  being  without 
spurs.  This  beautiful  species  was  collected  on  Mount  Dempo,  from 
7500-10,500  feet.  In  size  it  yaried  from  a  tree  four  feet  in  drcumference 
to  a  low  shrub, 

[This  drawing  has  been  done  for  me  by  Mr.  E.  Morgan,  from  a  camera 
drawing  of  the  author's  made  from  the  living  plant.    H.  0.  F.] 

Description  of  a  new  species  of  CvRTANDREJi:.     By  H.  0.  Forbes. 
[Extracted  from  the  Linnean  Society's  Journal— Botany,  vol.  xix.  p.  297. 

BoEA  Treubii,  Forbes. — Sufifruticosa,  caule  usque  ad  3 — 4  pedes  alto, 
pallide  cinnamomeo-tomentoso :  foliis  oppositis,  breviter  petiolatis, 
elongato-Ianceolatis,  supra  giabratis,  subtus  ciunamomeo-tomentosis ; 
liedunculis  multifloris,  iu  i^aniculam  terminalcm  abeuntibus ;  corolla  in 
diam.  O-20-0"23  nietr.  purpurascenti-cserulca. 

Folia  acuminata,  serrulata,  undulata ;  pctioli  connati,  basi  dilatati, 
caulem  amplectentes.  Bractea3  infcriores,  foliis  similes,  sed  minores. 
Calyx  5-iDartitus ;  laciniis  lanccolatis,  acuminatis,  tomentosis.  Corolla 
oblique  campanulata,  tubus  calyce  brevior ;  limbus  bilabiatus,  lobis 
obovato-rotundatis.  Stamina  2  perfecta,  corolla  multo  breviora,  2-3 
rudimentaria ;  tilamenta  arcuata  ;  antherse  magnae,  cordato-oblonga^, 
reniformes,  aurantiaca),  apicibus  cohairentes,  loculis  subrectis  confluenti- 
bus.  Capsula  ovoideo-cylindrica,  bivalvis,  valvis  etiam  in  capsula 
perjuveni  spiraliter  dextrorsum  tortis,  loculicide  dehiscens;  i^lacentse 
membranacese,  2-fidiB,  revolutae,  semina  minuta  integentes. 

Sumatra,  in  monte  calcareo  Karangnata,  jn'ope  Napal  Litjin,  in  iDrov- 
incia  Palembang,  alt.  1000  ped. 

I  found  this  singularly  beautiful  and  graceful  plant  in  full  flower  in 
November,  1881,  lirst  near  the  village  of  Is'ajial  Litjin,  580  feet  above  the 
sea ;  but  in  profusion  on  the  large  disrupted  calcareous  blocks  near  the 
summit  of  the  peak  of  Karangnata,  in  company  with  magnificent  spike- 
bearing  Caslogynes  and  pink-fruited  Melastomacex.  I  am  not  satisfied 
that  BueaTrcubii  may  not  form  a  new  genus;  it  differs  from  Boea  in  its 
large  size  and  entire  stigma.  The  si^ecific  name  is  give  in  honour  of  Dr. 
Treub,  Director  of  the  Botanic  Gardens,  Buitenzorg. 


PAET   IV. 

IN  THE  MOLUCCAS  AND  IN  TIMOR-UUT. 


CHAPTER  I. 

FROM   JAVA  TO  AMBOINA. 

Sojourn  in  Buitenzor?,  Java — Leave  for  Amboina  accompanied  by  my  wife — 
Friends  on  board — Call  at  Samarang  and  Sourabaya  in  Java — Macassar  in 
Celebes— Binia  in  Sumbawa — Larantuka  in  Flores — Cupang  and  Dilly  in 
1'imor — Banda,  the  island  of  nutmeg  gardens. 

Aeriving  in  Batavia  from  Sumatra  on  the  27th  of  December, 
1881,  I  was  engaged  for  many  weeks  in  botanical  investigations 
in  the  Laboratory  of  the  Buitenzorg  Botanicial  Gardens,  in 
packing  up  my  very  hirge  Herbarium,  and  in  making  the 
necessary  arrangements  for  my  expedition  to  Timor-h\ut. 

At  the  end  of  March,  the  future  companion  of  my  travels 
arrived  from  Europe,  to  whom  I  was  married  on  the  5th  of 
April,  and  henceforth  the  record  of  those  wanderings  must 
pass  from  the  singular  to  the  plural  pronoun,  while  the  ob- 
servations hereunder  recorded  are  those  sometimes  of  the 
one,  sometimes  of  the  other  of  us. 

On  the  15th  of  the  month  we  left  Batavia  en  route  for 
Timor-laut  via  Amboina.  On  board  the  steamer  there  was  a 
large  complement  of  passengers,  among  whom  was  Major  Van 
der  Weide,  the  directing  medical  officer  of  the  Moluccas,  and 
a  most  charming  Portuguese  family,  that  of  Major  da  Franca, 
who  was  on  his  way  to  assume  the  Governorship  of  their 
possessions  in  East-Timor. 

The  steamers  of  the  Netherlands  India  Company  circum- 
navigate the  Archipelago  every  month ;  and  as  they  often  lie 
to  as  long  as  a  couple  of  days  at  the  more  important  islands 
along  its  southern  belt,  we  had  therefore  the  opportunity  of 
forming  a  slight  acquaintance  with  many  interesting  places 
and  races  of  men.  After  a  call  at  the  two  Javan  ports  of 
Samarang  and    Sourabaya,  we   anchored  for  several  days  in 


284  A   NATUBALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

Macassar,  the  greatest  disseminator  in  these  seas  of  the  pro- 
ducts of  Western  civilisation  to  the  barbarous  East.  Thence, 
running  a  day  and  night's  sail  southward  to  the  island  of 
Sumbawa,  we  touched  for  a  few  hours  at  Bima.  The  rest  of 
that  day  and  till  next  afternoon  we  coasted  along  the  shores 
of  the  island  of  Flores,  the  Land  of  Flowers  of  the  early 
Portuguese  navigators,  but  a  heavy  mist  concealed  from  our 
view  its  wooded  features. 

Anchoring  at  Larantuka  at  its  eastern  point,  I  accompanied 
the  captain  on  shore  under  a  dense  rain,  and  spent  an  hour 
or  two  at  a  lone  monastery  there,  where  some  eight  or  nine 
priests  were  living,  who  hospitably  proffered  us  the  best  of 
their  cellar.  The  buildings  and  grounds  were  enclosed  and 
strongly  fenced  in  by  thick  hedges  of  the  impenetrable  bam- 
boo-durie.  With  a  few  people  from  Java  and  the  surrounding 
islands  they  were  spending  their  lives  in  very  much  like 
useless  solitude.  The  natives  were  anything  but  friendly, 
and  lived  far  in  the  mountains ;  but  every  now  and  then,  the 
priests  told  me,  they  made  a  raid  on  their  establishment, 
shooting  a  few  of  their  people  in  the  dark  and  then  running 
away.  So  that  it  seemed  to  me  that  both  the  priests  and 
the  nuns  (who  occupied  an  adjacent  nunnery)  might  have 
established  themselves  in  a  region  affording  more  scope  to 
their  self-denying  labours.  The  natives  I  saw  were  mop- 
haired,  with  sooty  black  skins;  they  wore  triton-shell  arm- 
lets, squeezed  on  just  below  the  shoulder  so  tight  that  I  was 
astonished  that  strangulation  of  the  limb  was  not  the  result. 
A  pink  Periwinkle  {Vinca  rosea),  and  the  lovely  dark  blue 
climbing  Clitorea  ternatensis  grew  abundantly  near  the  shore 
and  in  the  gardens  of  the  priests. 

From  Larantuka  passing  southward  through  the  Flores 
straits  we  made  for  Cupang  in  the  west  of  Timor — a  bright 
clean,  neatly  laid-out  town  at  the  base  of  a  range  of  abrupt 
hills,  with  a  considerable  Dutch  population  living  in  sub- 
stantial houses.  On  going  ashore  we  were  delighted  to  find 
there  an  Englishman,  Mr.  Drysdale,  by  whom  we  were  most 
hospitably  entertained  during  the  day.  The  natives,  tall 
well-made  fellows  with  their  hair  done  up  in  a  large  frizzly 
mop,  strolled  lazily  about  the  streets  looking  on  unconcernedly 
at  the  tide  of  civilisation  and  the  easfcr  bustle  of  trade  set 


IN    THE  MOLUCCAS. 


285 


flowing  by  the  arrival  pf  our  steamer,  as  if  it  was  a  matter 
in  which  they  had  absolutely  no  interest  or  concern.  They 
wore  little  clothing  beyond  a  loin-cloth,  and  a  fringed  plaid 
— that  simjjlest  and  most  primitive  garb  of  man — about  their 
shoulders;  a  little  bag,  heavily  ornamented  with  gold  and 
beads,  suspended  in  front  by  a  string  round  the  hips,  con- 
tained their  betel  nut  and  siri  leaves,  and  tastefully  carved 
bamboo  tubes  full  of  tobacco.  A  Borassus  palm  leaf  for  an 
umbrella  completed  their  costume  and  accoutrements,  except 
their  hats,  which,  made  out  of  the 
pure  white  spathe  of  the  Borassus 
palm,  really  exhibit  artistic  taste 
of  a  very  high  order.  Somewhat 
of  the  shape  of  the  "Devonshire 
Hat,"  so  much  worn  a  few  years  ago, 
but  narrower  in  proportion,  they 
were  elaborately  ornamented  w  ith  a 
mass  of  flowers  and  plumes  really 
wonderfully  modelled  out  of  little 
chips  of  the  spathe.  Held  in  the 
hand  they  were  singularly  graceful 
ornaments  ;  but  atop  of  the  natives' 
cnrly  mops  they  had  rather  a  gro- 
tesque appearance.  The  indigenes 
rarely  came  down  from  their  own 


S0L0.1   OltXAMENTATION. 


mountain  homes  to  the 
town,  so  that  very  few  of  the  natives  I  saw  crowding  the  streets 
of  Cnpang  were  true  Timorese,  Mr.  Drysdale  told  me ;  most 
of  them  were  men  from  the  little  island  of  Solor,  and  are  the 
servants  and  coolies  of  the  place. 

Trade  is  carried  on  by  barter,  the  most  prized  article  of 
exchange  being  a  species  of  bead,  by  no  means  plentiful,  called 
by  them  laJckai,  of  an  ochreous  red  colour,  evidently  some  sort  of 
soft  stone.  Whence  these  beads  come  is  quite  unknown,  and 
no  imitation  yet  made  in  Birmingham  or  elsewhere  has  been 
sufficiently  exact  to  deceive  the  native  to  give  the  price  of  the 
true  article  for  its  counterfeit — a  small  string  of  eiffht  or  nine 
inches  long  costing  over  £12. 

Another  night's  sail  brought  us  to  Dilly,  the  capital  of  the 
Portuguese  territory  in  the  east  half  of  the  island.  Here  we 
lost  our  genial  companions,  the  Governor  and  his  family,  who 
20 


286  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

landed  under  a  salute  from  the  fort,  and  with  a  great  show 
of  ceremony.  Landing  later  in  the  day,  we  perambulated  the 
town,  which  wanted  much  before  it  could  be  termed  neat  or 
clean  or  other  than  dilapidated,  but  when  we  afterwards 
came  to  know  how  terribly  insalubrious  it  is,  we  were  sur- 
prised that  the  incessant  fever  and  languor  which  made  life  on 
the  lowlands  an  absolute  burden  left  a  particle  of  energy  in 
anybody  to  care  for  anything.  The  supreme  evil  of  Dilly  is 
its  having  been  built  on  a  low  morass,  when  it  might  have 
stood  far  more  salubriously  on  the  easily  accessible  slopes 
close  behind  it.  Before  leaving  we  received  from  the  Governor 
a  most  cordial  invitation  to  visit  them  again,  and  the  generous 
offer  of  what  assistance  I  might  want,  should  I  have  a  mind 
to  travel  in  the  interior  of  the  island. 

A  sail  of  two  nights  and  a  day  brought  us  to  Banda. 
Coming  on  deck,  before  breakfast,  we  found  ourselves  slowly 
steaming  in  through  a  narrow  winding  entrance  between 
thickly  foliaged  cliffs,  which  seemed,  after  giving  us  passage, 
to  glide  together  and  enclose  us  within  a  deep  blue  inland  lake 
without  entrance  or  exit.  It  was  the  most  lovely  spot  we  had 
yet  visited.  Fronting  us  as  the  steamer  warped  itself  to  the 
jetty,  lay  the  town  as  a  cluster  of  white  houses,  built  along 
the  low,  narrow  foreshore,  overshadowed  on  all  sides  by  steep 
heights  densely  wooded  with  bright  green  vegetation ;  from 
an  elevated  plateau,  a  battlemented  fort  overlooked  us,  the 
scarlet  of  its  Dutch  ensign  floating  in  the  wind  with  a 
bright  gleam  of  colour ;  behind  us,  across  the  harbour,  rose, 
from  the  water's  bayleted  edge,  the  high  symmetrical  islet 
cone  of  the  Gunung  Api,  its  base  and  flanks  green  with  trees, 
amid  whose  shade  a  white  dwelling  here  and  there  peeped 
out,  peacefully  reposing,  careless  of  the  internal  fires  that 
blistered  the  smouldering  summit  of  the  mountain. 

We  walked  through  the  town  and  viewed  at  Bin  Saleh's 
many  native-made  Paradise  and  thousands  of  other  gay  New 
Guinea  birds'  skins,  ready  for  dispatch  to  the  Paris  markets. 
Two  skins  of  the  Seleucides  alha  and  BipliyJlodes  7'espublica 
were  all  that  were  worth  purchasing.  We  were  charmed  with 
its  clean  aspect,  its  green  parks  with  gravelled  walks,  and 
pretty  dwellings.  Wandering  up  the  heights  by  a  path  over- 
grown with  lycopods  and  ferns,  we  presently  found  ourselves 


IN   TEE  MOLUCCAS. 


287 


under  a  delightfully  shady  canopy  of  tall  Kanary  trees, 
and  among  the  groves  of  Nutmeg  of  which  Banda  is  the 
famous  garden.  Quite  a  picturesque  object  in  the  wood  was 
a  boy  busy  gathering  the  fruit  into  a  neat  creel,  with  a 
jointed  pole  like  a  fishing-rod,  nipping  off  the  stalk  of  the 
ripe  nuts  by  two  claw-like  prongs  with  which  the  tip  of  his 
rod  was  armed,  when  they  dropped  into  a  little  basket-like 
Caere  worked  to  the  stem  a  few  inches  below.  He  came 
and  showed  us  his  basketful  of  beautiful  fruit 
— in  its  pale  yellow  shell,  half  of  which  is  left 
on,  in  which  was  nestling  the  dark  brown  nut 
embroidered  with  its  deep  lake  mace.  This  fruit 
is  the  favourite  food  of  the  large  pigeons  (Carpo- 
phaga  concinnd)  whose  low  booming  note  was  one 
of  the  few  bird  sounds  that  broke  the  stillness  of 
the  woods.  I  shot,  however,  a  lovely  green  dove 
{PHlopus  diadematus)  and  a  little  White-eye  (Zos- 
terops  chloris),  and  noticed  traces  of  the  Cassowaries 
that  have  been  introduced  from  New  Guinea,  which 
are  said  to  be  now  breeding  there. 

Farther  on  we  came  on  one  of  the  plantation- 
houses,  where  a  large  number  of  men  and  women 
were  peeling  the  mace,  drying  it  in  the  sun,  and 
packing  both  in  boxes.  These  cases  are  all  made 
of  one  size,  carefully  finished  and  caulked,  and 
form  as  delightful  an  article  of  cargo  as  could 
be  wished.  None  but  a  trade  de  Z»,t'«  would  befit  erers  col- 
an  island  so  ornate  and  so  wonderfully  situated  as  leg  ting 
Banda.  Its  produce,  grown  in  beautiful  bowers,  is 
gathered  up  round  its  umbrageous  bayleted  shores  in  long 
gaudily-painted  praus,  which  are  constantly  darting  about 
propelled  by  lithe  rowers,  who,  as  is  their  custom,  synchron- 
ously plunge  and  flash  out  their  paddles  in  the  sun  to  a 
buoyant  merry  tune,  and  in  whose  preparation  or  shipment 
not  one  hand-soiling  operation  is  required ;  its  atmosphere  is 
charged  with  aromatic  exhalations ;  its  wharfs  and  streets  are 
the  picture  of  tidiness,  and  the  very  water  that  laps  its  coral 
shores  is  brighter  and  })urer  than  almost  anywhere  else  in  the 
world. 

A  night's  slow  steaming  brought  us  to  Amboina. 


288  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


CHAPTER  II. 

AMBOINA. 

Aiiiboina  —  Reception  by  Mr,  Eesident  Paedel  —  Delay  —  Visit  interior  of 
Amboina — Paso — Move  to  Wai — The  jieople  there — The  flora  and  fauna — 
Hetura  to  Amboina. 

On  landing  in  Amboina,  I  sent  my  letters  of  introduction 
from  the  Government  to  Mr.  Resident  Riedel,  and  later  in  the 
day  we  reported  our  arrival  in  person  at  his  house.  My  letters 
recommended  me  officially  to  him  for  whatever  information 
he  could  give  us  in  regard  to  Timor-laut ;  and  in  that  liberal 
spirit  in  which  all  travellers  in  the  Archipelago  are  treated 
by  the  Dutch  Government,  I  had  been  granted  the  privilege 
also  of  using  the  voyages  thither  of  the  Government's  marine 
gunboat,  which  the  authorities  in  Batavia  expected  would  be 
leaving  Amboina  for  the  Tenimber  Islands  shortly  after  our 
arrival  there.  To  our  surprise,  Mr.  Riedel's  bearing  towards 
us  was  not  at  all  friendly,  and  beyond  the  simple  item  that 
the  Tagal  had  just  returned  thence,  we  obtained  no  further 
information  as  to  its  movements  or  intelligence  from  him  about 
Timor-laut. 

Taking  leave  of  the  Resident  very  disappointed,  as  I  had 
relied  much  on  the  information  that  could  have  been  given  us, 
we  set  about  searchino:  for  some  shelter  for  the  niprht.  Know- 
ing  no  one  in  a  town  where  there  is  neither  hotel  nor  "  Rooms 
to  be  let "  for  chance  travellers,  we  returned  at  sundown 
unsuccessful  on  board  the  steamer  which  fortunately  had  not 
sailed.  Resuming  our  search  next  morning,  we  happily  at 
nightfall  met  with  the  Captain  of  the  Chinese,  who,  with  the 
utmost  kindness,  placed  a  newly-built  house  of  his  at  our 
disposal,  and  made  it  habitable  for  us. 

Our  first   impressions  of  Amboina,  therefore,  were   by  no 


IN   THE  MOLUCCAS.  289 


means  prepossessing ;  they  would  have  been  brighter  could 
we  have  foreseen  that,  ere  we  left  it,  we  were  to  make  many 
delightful  friends,  whose  kindness  and  hospitality  would  fix  it 
in  our  remembrance  as  one  of  the  most  pleasant  of  towns  to 
reside  in. 

Our  only  means  now  of  reaching  the  Tenimber  Islands  was 
by  the  Netherlands  tri-monthly  steamer,  due  on  the  18th  of 
June,  which  had  lately  begun  to  run  to  New  Guinea,  touching 
at  Serah  and  Larat,  both  islets  of  the  Timor-laut  group,  where 
the  Government  had  just  then  placed  Postholders  (civil  offi- 
cials of  subordinate  rank)  charged  with  the  initiatory  work  of 
these  new  colonies. 

To  a  naturalist  with  a  spare  week  or  two  at  his  dis2:)osal, 
few  islands  can  offer  so  acceptable  a  retreat  as  Amboina.  To 
spend  the  time  as  profitably  as  possible,  therefore,  we  decided 
to  move  a  little  distance  into  the  interior. 

3Iai/  14:th.  Breathless  Sunday  morning.  Started  for  Paso, 
a  little  village  situated  at  the  top  of  the  Bay  of  Amboina,  on 
the  narrow  isthmus — only  a  few  hundred  yards  broad — that 
connects  the  southern  or  Leitimor  with  the  northern  (called 
Hitu)  portion  of  the  island.  It  was  a  disappointment  to  us 
that  a  ripple  on  the  water  quite  prevented  our  getting  a  glimpse 
of  those  fairy  Gardens  of  the  Sea  to  be  seen  here,  which  have 
been  so  graphically  described  by  Mr.  Wallace.  Jutting  out  from 
the  land  along  the  shores  of  the  bay  were  the  curious  Seros  or 
native  fish-maises,  in  which  a  double  line  of  close  bamboo  pali- 
sades, reaching  above  the  level  of  the  water,  enclosed  a  lane, 
which  extended  shorewards  from  its  seaward  entrance  a  little 
way  beyond  low-water  mark,  and  doubling  back  terminated  in 
deep  water  in  a  circular  well,  where  the  fish  that  had  entered 
during  high  tide,  and  whose  escape  had  been  prevented  by  the 
ebb,  were  enclosed  and  captured  from  a  trap  door  in  a  little 
platform  erected  over  it. 

As  we  skirted  along  the  shore,  the  sound  of  sacred  music 
floated  out  to  us  over  the  water  from  one  of  the  little  villages 
in  solemn  and  impressive  cadence.  We  landed  for  a  little 
to  look  at  the  church  whence  it  issued — the  people  here  being 
all  "  Orang  Sirani,"  or  Christians.*  The  congregation  was 
just  dispersing,  and  we  were  surprised  at  the  neatness  of  their 
*  Or  "  Xazarenes." 


290  A   NATUBALIST'S    WANDEBINGS 

attire  ;  the  men  in  badjos  (a  sort  of  blouse)  and  trousers  of 
black  glazed  calico,  and  the  women  in  black  sarongs  (petticoat) 
and  kabaias  (a  loose  tunic  with  sleeves).  Their  demeanour  was 
becomingly  grave  and  solemn,  like  their  dress.  The  parson, 
however,  looked  an  odd  figure  in  a  white  tie,  a  European 
dress-coat  never  made  for  him,  black  pants  of  uncertain  age, 
and  a  tall  narrow-rimmed  beaver  hat.  Their  church  was  fitted 
up  like  a  Dutch  or  a  Scottish  country  kirk,  and  had  been 
entirely  erected  by  the  villagers,  who,  according  to  custom, 
each  contributed  their  share  of  its  cost  in  labour  or  material. 

On  arrival  at  Paso,  we  found  the  Rajah  (the  chief  of  the 
village,  an  official  appointed  by  the  Government  without  any 
territorial  possession)  preparing  to  leave  for  a  week  to  attend 
some  great  native  festival  in  a  neighbouring  village,  but  he 
has  kindly  offered  us  a  room  in  his  house.  He  remembers  Mr. 
Wallace,  who  visited  Paso  in  the  time  of  his  father  (who  was 
also  Eajah),  Beccari,  Macleay,  and  the  officers  of  the  Challenger, 
who  had  all  occupied  his  house,  he  informs  us. 

May  Ibtli.  The  Rajah,  and  a  great  part  of  the  villagers  with 
him,  left  this  forenoon.  The  last  thing  done  before  starting 
was  to  rake  and  tidy  the  space  in  front  of  the  church,  "  for  if 
proper  respect  were  not  paid  to  Tuan  Allah,  perhaps  some  mis- 
fortune might  befall  one  or  other  of  the  praus."  The  final 
start  for  the  boats  was  made  from  the  church  door.  Their 
belief  in  the  avenging  nature  of  the  deity  is  very  strong. 

A  Strohilanfhes  hedge-girt  path  in  front  of  the  Rajah's 
house  leads  straight  to  the  Bay  of  Baguala,  along  the  istlimus, 
which  is  nothing  but  a  sandbank  recently  raised  from  the  sea. 

Along  the  S.E.  shore  of  Leytimor  I  observe  precipitous 
cliffs  of  coral  from  200  to  300  feet  in  height  iii  situ,  indicating 
a  considerable  amount  of  elevation.  The  Bay  of  Baguala  is  at 
this  season  very  calm,  but  a  month  hence  the  natives  say  the 
monsoon  will  have  changed,  and  it  will  be  difficult  for  boats  to 
come  in.  Now,  however,  the  scene  is  a  very  lively  one  at  all 
hours  of  the  day,  for  the  traders  bringing  sago-meal,  fish  and 
fruits  from  Ceram,  Saparua,  Nusa-lau  and  the  N.E.  shores  of 
Amboina  are  hurrying  before  the  change  of  weather  to  bring 
over  their  produce  to  Amboina,  and  get  back  again  with  their 
exchanges.  On  arriving  in  the  Baguala  Bay  their  boats  have 
to  be  all  unloaded,  and  dragged  over  the  narrow  isthmus  into  a 


IN    THE  MOLUCCAS.  291 


creek  of  the  Amboina  Bay,  wliicli  at  high  water  is  only  a  few 
yards  distant ;  and  as  the  constant  unpacking  and  repacking  is 
accompanied  by  shouting  and  singing  to  the  beating  of  a  tom- 
tom, without  which  no  work  can  bo  done  here  as  it  times  them 
to  concerted  action,  Paso  is  anything  but  dull. 

Maij  21.  Lopes  and  Peter  as  usual  out  hunting  for  birds, 
while  I  went  to  the  forest  to  botaniso ;  Anna  labelling  the 
insects  and  birds  at  home.  The  fine  Ornithoptera,  the  Kupu- 
Kiipu  rajah  or  royal  butterflies,  for  which  this  island  is 
famous,  are  very  dilFicult  to  catch,  as  they  fly  at  so  great  a 
height ;  nevertheless  the  large  green  0.  priocnius,  and  O.remus, 
have  been  obtained  feeding  on  the  Cerhera  ladaria  and  C. 
odaUam.  I  have  on  several  occasions  found  the  bodiless  wings 
of  the  p-iamus  in  the  forest  paths,  as  if  it  had  been  attacked  by 
birds,  the  body  devoured  and  the  wings  dropped.  Nowhere 
have  I  seen  insect  life — especially  beetles — so  abundant,  or  of 
greater  variety  and  beauty,  as  here ;  one  of  the  less  rare 
species  is  the  grand  Sagueir  (palm-wine)  feeding-beetle, 
Eucliirus  longimanus,  figured  by  Mr.  AVallace  in  his  Malay 
Archipelago,  which  perish  in  thousands  every  year  by 
dropping,  generally  during  the  night,  into  the  palm-wine 
collecting  buckets  whence  they  cannot  escape. 

Coming  as  I  have  done  from  the  Indo-Malayan  part  of  the 
Archipelago  the  new  character  of  the  fauna  has  greatly  pleased 
me.  Gay  parrots  I  had  counted  on  seeing  ;  but  the  unex- 
pected richness  of  the  plumage  of  the  pigeons  has  been  a  special 
delight  to  us  at  every  return  of  our  hunters.  The  Marsupial 
species  of  discus  also,  of  which  we  have  obtained  three  species, 
have  interested  us.  They  are  very  plentiful,  and  at  this  season 
the  females  all  seem  to  have  a  little  one  in  their  pouch.  One 
of  these  was  a  tiny  creature  about  two  inches  long,  quite  hidden 
in  its  pouch,  fixed  by  its  lips  formed  into  a  simple  round  orifice 
to  its  mother's  teat.  They  are  much  eaten  by  the  natives,  by 
whom  they  are  caught  in  nooses  set  in  the  trees,  or  by  artifice 
In  moonlight  nights  creeping  stealthily  to  the  foot  of  a  tree 
wliore  they  have  observed  one  sleeping,  taking  care  not  to  lift 
their  heads  so  that  the  light  flash  in  their  eyes,  they  imitate  at 
short  intervals  its  cry  by  placing  the  fingers  in  the  nose ;  the 
Cuscus  descends  and  is  fallen  on  by  tlie  watcliers  below.  The 
python  is  their  greatest  enemy,  and  devours  large  numbers  of 


292  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDEBINGS 

them  as  they  cling  to  the  Lranches  during  the  day  in  a  semi- 
torpid  condition. 

Heavy  rain  fell  for  several  hours  this  afternoon,  and 
suddenly  set  a  patch  of  forest  near  the  liouse  alive  with  a  loud 
hoarse  uproar  of  tree-frogs,  that  continued  without  intermis- 
sion till  long  after  sunset.  Last  night,  as  we  were  falling 
asleep,  a  colony  of  a  different  species,  residing  in  the  "  atap," 
(thatch)  of  the  rajah's  house,  set  up  an  irritating,  harsh 
croupy  bark  like  a  little  cur's,  repeated  every  two  or  three 
seconds  till  break  of  day,  quite  disturbing  our  rest.  1  loused 
Lopes  several  times  to  beat  the  thatch,  but  they  would  not  be 
persuaded  to  cease  croaking. 

May  24th.  This  morning  at  four  o'clock  got  up  and  beat  a 
vigorous  tatoo  on  the  rajah's  "  bedug"  (drum)  to  assemble  the 
rowers  who  had  agreed  to  row  us  to  Tengah-tengah  on  our  way 
to  Wai,  and  with  whom  it  had  taken  me  the  whole  of  yester- 
day to  come  to  terms  as  to  a  boat  and  its  hire.  On  mustering 
our  crew  half  of  them  failed  to  put  in  an  appearance,  sending 
word  that  they  did  not  now  wish  to  go.  New  men  therefore  had 
to  be  found  and  terms  discussed  with  them  ;  and  even  with 
them  much  time  was  lost,  as  during  the  loading  of  the  boat  they 
took  every  opportunity  of  slinking  off  to  their  homes,  whence 
they  had  to  be  routed  out  over  and  over  again.  This  is  an 
exhibition  of  the  Sirani  in  their  true  character — at  least,  the 
side  of  it  they  oftenest  show,  lazy,  imtruthful,  arrogant  and 
void  of  conscience.  Having  abjured  the  Mahomedan  religion 
for  that  of  the  Europeans — in  form — and  acquired  some  words 
of  their  language,  they  consider  themselves  quite  the  equals 
of  the  Dutch.  Their  change  of  religion  has  done  much  for 
them,  in  many  ways,  as  a  community,  but  little  for  them 
individually.  They  can  be  excessively  tantalising ;  and  both 
as  traders  or  servants  I  iind  them  less  honest  hearted  and 
reliable  than  their  Islamite  brethren. 

At  length  got  under  weigh  at  eight  o'clock  in  an  "  orembai" 
with  six  rowers,  a  helmsman,  and  a  man  to  beat  the  drum. 
We  skirted  the  northern  shore  of  the  Baguala  Bay,  and  landed 
in  a  little  baylet  in  its  promontory,  where  the  village  of  Tengah- 
tengah  lies  built  up  in  terraces  from  the  shore.  These  terraces 
are  lined  by  thick  rows  of  the  true  Bread-fruit  tree  [Artocarims 
incisa),  whose  produce,  the  rajah  tells  me,  brings  in  some  £400 


IN   THE  MOLUCCAS.  293 

a  year  to  the  village.  The  people  are  Mahomedans,  and  their 
language  was  quite  unintelligible  to  us,  being  the  hahasa  negorai 
or  the  old  language  of  the  country,  which  the  Sirani  consider 
it  beneath  them  to  speak,  just  as  they  imagine  it  derogatory  to 
their  more  elevated  position  as  Sirani  to  wear  the  head-cloth 
and  Malay  sarong.  The  largest  edifice  in  the  village  is  the 
Baluai,  the  council  room,  where  the  rajah,  the  priests,  and  the 
chiefs  of  the  village  hold  their  deliberations.  The  rajah  of 
Paso  told  me  that  his  Baluai  had  fallen  to  ruins,  but  as  the  old 
hahasa,  which  they  had  quite  discarded,  might  alone  be  spoken 
in  it,  they  could  not  rebuild  it.  The  Baluai  corresponds  very 
nearly  with  the  Balai  of  Sumatra,  and  both  words  have  pro- 
bably a  Polynesian  origin.  The  manners  of  the  villagers  here 
are  simpler  and  far  less  haughty  than  those  of  the  Sirani  ;  but 
they  seem  poorer  and  less  advanced  in  civilised  ways. 

Alter  some  delay,  but  without  any  unpleasantness,  we  ob- 
tained a  boat  and  rowers  and  started  for  Wai.  From  Tenirah- 
tengah  we  sailed  through  what  might  have  been  a  bay  in 
Fairyland :  the  coral  gardens  beneath  our  keel,  so  beautiful 
that  we  found  it  difficult  to  proceed  far  without  bidding  our 
rowers  to  rest  on  their  oars  to  let  us  admire  each  more 
wonderful  spot ;  around  us  the  white  shore  line,  in  front  of 
a  dark  green  palm-fringe  ;  behind  us  the  island  of  Haruku 
embowered  in  foliage,  and  the  distant  peaks  of  Ceram. 
When  at  length  we  ran  our  prau  on  the  shore  in  the  mid- 
afternoon  in  front  of  the  village  of  Wai,  the  unreal  nature  of 
the  scene  seemed  complete,  so  buried  was  the  place  in  sleep, — 
not  a  moving  creature  was  to  be  seen  anywhere  on  the  shore 
or  in  the  village,  not  a  sound  of  life  broke  the  stillness  of  its 
tree-shaded  "  straats,"  not  the  bark  of  a  dog,  or  the  note  of  a 
bird  from  among  the  trees,  whose  branches  hung  listless  in 
the  broiling  sun.  So  heavy  lay  the  death-like  silence  on  all 
around  that  we  felt  as  if  we  ought  not  to  speak  above  a 
whisper,  or  to  tread  except  on  tip-toe,  as,  led  by  one  of  our 
boatmen,  we  slowly  made  our  way  to  the  house  of  the  rajah, 
who,  after  a  time,  appeared  in  his  sleeping  attire,  in  a  half- 
bewildered  and  confused  state  at  finding  a  couple  of  white 
strangers  in  his  verandah.  At  laet,  when  he  had  slowly 
grasped  the  reason  of  our  unexpected  advent,  we  came  to  terms 
with  him  for  an  unoccupied  house  of  his  a  few   doors  from 


294  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

liis  own,  and  it  was  curious  to  observe  the  surprised  air  of  the 
people  as  they  roused  themselves  to  watch  our  installation. 

Though  built  of  stone  in  the  European  style,  our  new 
abode  with  its  damp  sand-floor,  is  not  to  be  comjxired  for 
comfort  with  a  bamboo  pile-hut.  It  has  one  splendid  acces- 
sory in  a  large  bath-house  erected  in  a  secluded  spot  over 
a  stream  widened  out  and  enclosed  where  it  issues  from  the 
base  of  the  Silahutu  mountain,  and  above  where  the  villagers 
are  permitted  to  use  it. 

Sunday,  May  2Sih.  Strolled  out  together  in  the  early  morn- 
ing by  the  shady  j)aths  of  the  neighbouring  forest,  and  back  to 
the  village  along  the  bay  whose  charming  view  never  ceases 
to  afford  us  unmixed  delight,  and  on  whose  beach  the  east 
wind,  now  begun  to  blow  roughly,  has  been  throwing  a  wealth 
of  sponges,  hydroids,  and  shells  among  which  there  is  always 
something  new  to  us,  and  where  we  spend  many  hours  of  our 
walks  in  watching  the  painted  fields  of  shore  crabs  (Gelasi- 
mt(s)  with  their  richly  coloured  pincer  limbs  and  carapace, 
the  restless  chattering  Flycatchers  (Myiayra  galeata)  and 
the  sedate  Kingfishers  on  the  Mangroves  watching  for  little 
Crustacea,  and  those  curious  fishes  {Perioplithahnus)  that  hop 
along  the  shore  out  of  the  water  in  such  an  odd  a\  ay. 

The  village  is  laid  out  in  rectangular  plots  fenced  in  by 
Strobilanthes  hedges,  in  which  arc  set  the  gated  entrances  to 
garden-fronted  houses.  Th<3  streets,  lined  with  overarching 
trees,  are  margined  along  their  water  conduits  by  borders 
of  pink  crocus-like  plants.  One  of  its  chief  edifices  is  the 
Gredja,  whose  grandeur  quite  overwhelmed  us;  for  it  is  far 
more  elaborately  decorated  than  many  a  rural  parish  church 
at  home.  The  area  of  the  building  is  set  with  cane-bottomed 
chairs  instead  of  fixed  pews ;  but  on  one  side,  raised  a  few  feet 
above  the  floor,  a  large,  canopied,  elaborately  carved  and 
richly  gilded  suite  of  scats,  emblazoned  in  front  with  a  coat  of 
arms  (!^,  is  reserved  for  the  rajah  and  his  family.  The  pulpit 
is  also  much  carved  and  gilded,  and  the  church  altogether  is 
tastefully  fitted  and  abundantly  lighted  with  petroleum  lamps. 
The  services  are  conducted  in  High  Malay  by  a  European 
missionary,  and  in  his  absence  by  the  Guru  or  native  school- 
master, who  with  moderate  regularity  instructs  the  children 
five  days  a  week.     Amboinese  rajahs  keep  no  state,  and  wear 


JN  THE  MOLUCCAS.  295 


no  special  dress  except  on  Sundays.  To-day  we  had  the 
honour  of  seeing  the  Potentate  of  Wai  proceed  to  church  in 
state,  in  his  bhxck  trousers — which,  being  rather  short,  disphxyed 
a  good  deal  of  white  cotton  stocking — black  'swallow-tail' 
coat  made  for  a  stouter  and  taller  individual  than  himself, 
probably  his  father,  and  a  beaver  hat,  tall  and  narrow,  of  an 
ancient  pattern,  while  over  his  head  a  youth  carried  his 
gilded  state  umbrella.  The  whole  population  attended  the 
service,  all  of  them  in  black  calico  attire  ;  but  their  religion 
seems  to  lie  on  them  like  an  awesome  thraldom. 

Ju7ie  8th.  Began  packing  up  in  order  to  return  to  Amboina 
in  time  for  the  Timor-laut  steamer  of  the  16th.  We  have  had 
a  delightful  sojourn  here  notwithstanding  the  heavy  rains  that 
set  in  soon  after  our  arrival,  which  prevented  me  much  to  my 
regret,  from  reaching  the  summit  of  Silahutu.  The  later  hours 
of  every  afternoon  have  been  looked  forward  to  by  us  both  as 
the  most  pleasant  of  the  day,  when  the  hunters'  spoils  were 
displayed  to  be  admired,  examined  and  labelled.  Among  but- 
terflies we  have  added  a  few  more  of  the  fine  Ornitlioptera 
found  at  Paso,  numbers  of  "Swallow-tails,"  chief  among  them 
the  deep  blue  Papdio  tdysses,  species  of  Hebomoia  and  Pieris, 
Charaxes  euryolus,  and  many  "  Blues " ;  among  beetles  we 
have  added  to  our  collection  many  species  of  all  the  finest 
families,  Longicorns,  Pose-chafers,  Tiger-beetles  and  golden 
Buprestiilee ;  among  birds  may  be  mentioned  the  beautiful 
raquet-tailcd  Kingfishers  of  the  genus  Tanysiptera,  which  I 
was  rather  surprised  to  find  in  large  chattering  corrobories  in 
the  tops  of  high  trees ;  Maleos,  whose  terra-cotta  eggs  are 
eagerly  hunted  for  by  the  natives  as  a  table  luxury;  Mega- 
lurus  amhoinensit>,  an  isabelline  Eeed-warbler  found  chirping 
among  the  tall  Kussu  grass;  bright  orange  Thick-heads 
{Pachycephcda),  Lories,  and  among  our  favourite  pigeons  num- 
bers of  the  beautiful  black  and  cream-white  nutmeg-eaters 
(Myristichora  hicolor)  of  which  the  little  islet  of  Pulu  Pombo, 
lying  a  few  miles  oft'  the  coast,  is  a  densely  populated  colum- 
barium. The  most  interesting  of  the  plants  are  species  of 
Myrmecodia,  on  >v  hich  I  have  been  able  to  continue  the  observa- 
tions begun  at  ivosala  in  Java  (see  j)ages  79-82). 

To-day  I  had  a  long  talk  with  the  rajah  and  some  of  the 
people  of  the  neighbouring  ]\Iahomedan  village,  from  whom  I 


296  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

have  somewhat  extended  the  Batumerah  Vocabulary  given  by 
Mr.  Wallace  in  the  appendix  to  his  Malay  Archipelago. 

Amhoina,  June  10th.  Yesterday  at  daybreak  left  Wai  to 
come  here.  As  the  state  of  the  monsoon  prevented  our  journey- 
ing to  Paso  by  boat,  we  proceeded  across  the  promontory  on 
foot,  our  baggage  carried  by  porters,  and  A —  in  a  palan- 
quin. The  road  led  over  numerous  small  hills,  from  the  top  of 
which  we  got  many  pretty  peeps  of  Haruku  and  Ceram,  through 
Gum-tree — the  famous  Kajuput — forest  and  Kussu-grass  fields, 
studded  throughout  with  bright  yellow  Hibiscus-trees  and  with 
fragrant  Hahenaria  susannse  orchids,  while  by  the  path-side  grew 
bright  Polygalas  and  delicate  pink  Sonerilas.  The  nectaries 
of  the  Eahenaria  averaged  six  inches  in  length,  and  though 
containing  only  a  small  drop  of  nectar  at  the  bottom,  I  believe 
the  flowers  to  be  fertilised  by  a  moth  with  a  tongue  far  shorter 
than  six  inches.  Descending  into  the  Baguala  Bay  we  skirted 
the  shore  all  the  way  to  Paso,  where  we  found  we  must  wait  till 
afternoon  for  the  rise  of  the  tide.  It  was  only  after  hours  of 
bargaining  and  cajoling,  and  the  assistance  of  the  rajah's  autho- 
rity, we  obtained  (long  after  the  tide  had  sufficiently  risen) 
a  boat  and  men  to  take  us  down  the  bay.  This  unnecessary 
delay  did  not  tend  to  raise  the  Amboinese  character  in  our 
estimation,  especially  as  it  had  turned  out  a  soaking  night  and 
so  dark  that  we  could  not  see  where  we  were  steering  ;  while,  to 
crown  all,  our  boat  was  a  very  unsafe  "  dug-out "  with  no  out- 
riggers, in  which  we  could  not  dare  to  beguile  a  part  of  the 
way  in  sleep  for  fear  of  capsizing  it  by  an  unguarded  move- 
ment. Luckily  the  sea  was  as  smooth  as  glass,  and  we  kept 
ourselves  awake  watching  the  crickling  rain  and  the  drip  of 
our  paddles  dancing  into  phosphorescent  drops  on  the  water, 
the  luminous  zig-zag  path  that  the  frightened  fishes  traced 
in  darting  from  below  our  keel,  and  the  flashing  torches  of 
the  fisliers  arranging  their  Seros.  Arriving  about  midnight 
utterly  worn  out,  we  were  much  annoyed  to  find  the  door 
of  our  old  quarters  unopened,  and  none  of  the  preparations 
made  which  we  had  sent  on  Lopes — who  was  really  never  to 
be  depended  on  out  of  our  sight — in  advance  to  see  to ;  we 
pretty  truly  surmised  that  he  had  got  "  unco  happy  "  among 
his  friends  and  forgotten  all  about  us.  After  a  long  wait  in  the 
rain  the  key  was  at  last  obtained  by  rousing  up  our  kind  old 


IN  THE  MOLUCCAS.  297 

Chinaman,  and  our  baggage  drenched  in  the  rain  and  in  the 
leakage  of  the  boat,  at  length  deposited  under  cover.  Finding 
a  boat-sail  in  one  of  the  rooms,  we  were  glad  to  throw  ourselves 
upon  it  on  the  stone  floor — a  wretched  night  even  for  me, 
but  worse  for  my  companion,  hardly  yet  inured  to  roughing  it, 
and  for  whose  sake  I  bitterly  grudged  such  hardship  in  a  town 
so  civilised  as  Amboina 


298  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


CHAPTER  III. 

FROM  AMBOINA  TO  TIMOE-LAUT. 

Leave  for  Timor -kiit — Saparua — Curious  village  and  atoll  of  Gessir — New 
Guinea- — Aru — Kc — Timoi-laut — First  impressions — New  birds  and  but- 
terflies— State  of  siege — Negotiate  for  a  bouse— Language — Our  barter 
goods. 

July  5th.  On  board  the  SS.  Amhoina.  At  last,  at  5  a.m.  "  Full 
steam  ahead  " — for  Timor-laut.  Since  the  10th  of  last  month, 
after  completing  our  stock  of  beads,  knives,  and  the  thousand 
and  one  knick-nacks  bought  pretty  much  on  chance  in  the 
hope  of  their  being  good  trade,  "\ve  have  been  living  with  all 
our  baggage  packed  and  roped,  expecting  every  hour  the 
arrival  of  the  New  Guinea  steamer — a  period  of  intense 
discomfort  and  unrest.  Before  its  arrival  was  announced  we 
had  quite  concluded  that  some  accident  had  befallen  it.  At 
last,  however,  we  are  on  board,  and  have  already  forgotten  our 
vexation  in  the  keen  satisfaction  of  being  really  on  our  way 
Eastward  to  the  islands  where  we  hope  to  find  so  many  new 
forms  of  life. 

Our  enforced  sojourn  in  the  town  was  not  altogether 
without  pleasure.  Amboina  is  one  of  the  most  salubrious 
of  towns,  and  is  charmingly  laid  out  in  arbour-like  streets — ■ 
very  enjoyable  in  the  evenings — which  lead  to  the  beach  and 
to  the  grassy  hills  on  the  outskirts  along  the  shores ;  while, 
being  the  head-quarters  of  a  regiment  of  troops,  music  was 
discoursed  twice  a  week  on  the  j)lain  in  front  of  the  Port ; 
and,  having  then  no  European  acquaintances,  we  had  leisure 
to  look  on  at  phases  of  Chinese,  Arab,  and  native  life,  which, 
standing  in  the  dark,  gazing  into  lamp-lit  churches,  dwellings, 
shops,  and  gambling-houses,  we  could  unnoticed  interest  our- 
selves in.  On  the  day  after  the  arrival  of  the  Java  mail  that 
brought  us  the  sad  intelligence  of  the  death  of  Mr.  Darwin, 


^yafaraKstfe  WanJerinjj's  in  Qte  Eaatsm  Archqielago  . 


To  face Bage^Bh. 


M 


132° 


-SSte, 


£      ^      JV     B 


E     ^ 


TENIMBER  ISLANDS 

OR 

TIMOR  LAUT 

Conqaled  iruni  the.  ial«st  iufonnatian 
Wth  corrections iyJtfniO.Torbes. 

^____ p  'Bw^ii^Jf 

Mtrttrd  line  indxctUxa  region  trhence 
the  AhJhoris  coTLectiona  wrrr  ohtmned* 


lonSitud^    Eas*^    iroaii    .IC  IrresDwcxh 


Bjo'per  %  Brothers  iiewYork. 


IN   TIMOR -LAUT.  299 


I  was  delighted  to  be  hailed  by  Dr.  Julius  IMachik,  an  old 
friend  of  mine  in  the  Lampongs  of  Sumatra,  who  posted  to  the 
charge  of  the  Military  Hospital,  had  come  with  his  family  to 
reside  here.  His  house  was  forthwith  our  constant  rendezvous, 
and  as  he  was  a  keen  entomologist  and  ichthyologist,  the  rest 
of  the  time  till  our  departure  passed  most  pleasantly. 

Juli/  i)th  and  6th  were  spent  in  touching  at  Saparua,  one  of 
the  Ceram  group,  and  in  lying  for  a  day  in  our  favourite  port 
of  Banda.  Having  steamed  slowly  during  the  next  night 
we  anchored  in  the  morning  of  the  7th  at  Gessir,  a  mere 
horseshoe-shaped,  cocoanut-fringed  coral  atoll,  picturesquely 
showing  its  surface  above  the  sea  at  the  east  end  of  Ceram. 
Once  one  of  the  most  dreaded  nests,  and  the  secure  hiding- 
place  of  pirates  in  these  seas,  it  is  now  one  of  the  busiest  and 
most  curious  marts  in  the  extreme  East — a  rich  ethnological 
gallery,  crowded  with  representatives  and  the  handiwork  of 
every  race  in  the  Archipelago,  and  dotted  with  Malay,  Chinese 
and  Buginese  dwellings,  each  built  after  its  own  fashion.  The 
houses  are  arranged  in  quadrangular  blocks,  each  within  a 
high  fence,  opening  on  to  clean,  carefully  kept  streets  lighted 
by  oil  lamps  on  painted  lamp-posts — all  fresh  as  a  new 
button. 

It  is  the  rendezvous  of  the  Paradise-  and  other  bird-skin 
collectors  from  the  mainland  of  New  Guinea,  from  Salwatty, 
Mysore,  and  Halmaheira,  and  of  the  pearl-divers  of  Aru ; 
hither  the  tripang,  tortoise-shell,  beeswax,  nutmegs,  dammar, 
and  other  rich  produce  from  a  multitude  of  islands  is  brought 
to  be  exchanged  with  the  jMalay  and  Chinese  traders,  of  Macas- 
sar, Singapore  and  Ternatc,  for  the  scarlet,  blue,  and  white 
cottons  and  calicos  of  the  Dutch  and  English  looms,  for  the 
yellow-handled  hoop-iron  knives,  which  form  the  universal 
small  change  of  these  regions,  and  for  beads,  glass-balls, 
knobs  of  amber,  old  keys,  scraps  of  iron,  and  worthless  but 
gaudy  Brummagem.  At  certain  seasons  it  is  quite  a  rich 
zoological  garden.  Here  may  often  be  seen  in  captivity  Birds 
of  Paradise  of  species  never  yet  seen  alive  anywhere  else  out 
of  their  own  lands,  parrots,  lories,  cockatoos,  crowned  pigeons, 
cassowaries,  tree  kangaroos,  and  other  animals  which  have 
managed  to  survive  a  journey  thus  far,  but  rarely  farther  west. 

Juhj  Sth.     New  Guinea!    This  morning  we  find  ourselves 


300  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

gazing  for  the  first  time  on  the  wooded  shores  of  the  land 
over  which  there  lies  such  a  halo  of  romance  and  mystery. 
It  was  with  the  intensest  interest  that  we  landed  by  scram- 
bling up  on  the  curious  and  shaky  platforms  which  the 
Papuan  projects  far  out  into  the  sea  as  a  foundation  for  his 
house,  over  which,  on  narrow  planks  of  sj^lit  bamboo  and  on 
rolling  tree-trunks,  guarding  against  falling  into '  the  sea 
through  the  constant  vacuities,  we  made  our  way  to  the  shore, 
which  was  but  a  narrow  strip  of  land  a  few  yards  wide  in  front 
of  high  and  perpendicular  cliffs  of  rock. 

We  were  surrounded  at  once  by  a  crowd  of  tall,  erect, 
frizzly-headed,  well-disposed  men  and  women,  who  found  us 
most  curious  objects  apparently.  It  was  evident  that  they 
had  but  seldom  seen  white  faces,  for  our  colour  interested 
them  very  much.  They  examined  our  legs,  arms,  and  faces, 
rubbing  them  gently  and  looking  at  their  fingers  to  see 
whether  the  colour  came  off  or  not ;  others,  taking  off  the 
scanty  head-cloth  they  wore,  took  our  hands  within  its  folds  in 

a  most  reverential  attitude.     A ,  probably  the  only  white 

lady  that  has  ever  trod  this  northern  part,  was,  however,  the 
object  of  curiosity.  After  looking  at  her  very  intently  for  some 
time  a  thought  suddenly  seemed  to  strike  two  of  their  number, 
who,  dashing  away  towards  one  of  the  houses,  returned  in  a 
little  leading  between  them  an  Albino  woman  with  fair  skin 
and  yellowish  hair,  and  placing  her  side  by  side  as,  burst  into 
a  hearty  laugh,  as  much  as  to  say,  "  We  know  now  why  your 
skins  are  white." 

I  observed  that  their  dead  were  buried  in  the  ground,  in  a 
mound-shaped  grave.  One  was  entirely  curtained  above  and 
round  four  stakes  driven  into  the  ground ;  while  another  was 
surmounted  by  a  skull. 

After  touching  at  Ke  and  Aru,  we  bore  away  south  by  west, 
and  early  on  the  morning  of  July  the  13th  we  sighted  the  first 
of  the  Tenimber  Islands,  lying  between  6^35'  and  8'^25'  N.  lat. 
and  130^30'  and  132^  E.  longitude  ;  these  were  the  higher 
lands  of  Molu  and  Vordate,  beyond  which  the  mainland  of  the 
larger  island  came  into  view  as  a  low-lying  country  trending 
away  southwards,  presenting  to  our  eyes,  fresh  from  the  ma- 
jestic forests  of  the  western  regions  of  the  Archipelago,  by  no 
means  a  very  luxuriant  vegetation. 


IN   TIMOR-LAUT.  301 


When  the  islands  were  first  discovered  and  the  name  Timor- 
laut  or  Tenimber  first  applied,  I  have  not  been  able  to  discover. 
In  Mercator's  atlas  of  1636,  they  are  represented  on  a  small 
scale  in  his  map  of  the  East  Indian  Islands.  The  first  informa- 
tion we  possess  of  a  reliable  kind  is  by  Captain  Owen  Stanley, 
whose  name  is  perpetuated  in  that  magnificent  pile  of  moun- 
tains in  the  south-east  promontory  of  New  Guinea,  whose  heights 
no  white  foot  has  yet  ascended.  In  his  '  Visits  to  the  Islands 
in  the  Arafura  Sea,'  in  1 839  (in  Stokes'  '  Discoveries  in  Austra- 
lia') he  says:  "We  sailed  from  Port  Essington  on  March  18, 
1839,  ..  .Light  airs  prevented,  our  clearing  the  harbour  till 
the  morning  of  the  19th,  and  at  3  r.M.  on  the  20th  we  made 
the  land  of  Timor-laut.  .  .  .  Xi  daylight  on  the  21st  we  made 
all  sail  to  the  northward  .  .  .  and  anchored  in  11  fathoms, 
sand  and  coral,  three-quarters  of  a  mile  from  the  shore.  On 
landing  the  contrast  to  the  Australian  shores  [Captain  Stanley 
approached  from  the  opposite  point  of  the  compass  from  myself] 
we  had  so  recently  sailed  from  was  very  striking.  We  left  a 
land  covered  with  the  monotonous  interminable  forest  of  the 
eucalyptus  or  gum  tree,  which  from  the  j)eculiar  structure  of 
its  leaf  affords  but  little  shelter  from  the  troj)ical  sun ;  shores 
fringed  with  impenetrable  mangroves,  .  .  .  the  natives  black, 
the  lowest  in  the  scale  of  civilised  life.  .  .  .  We  landed  on  a 
beach,  along  which  a  luxuriant  growth  of  cocoa-nut  trees  ex- 
tended for  more  than  a  mile,  under  the  shade  of  which  were 
sheds  neatly  constructed  of  bamboo  and  thatched  with  palm- 
leaves,  for  the  reception  of  their  canoes.  To  our  right  a  hill 
rose  to  a  height  of  400  feet  covered  with  brilliant  and  varied 
vegetation  so  luxuriant  as  entirely  to  conceal  the  village 
(Oliliet)  built  on  its  summit.  The  no,tives  who  thronged  the 
beach  were  of  a  light  tawny  colour,  mostly  fine  athletic  men 
witli  an  intelligent  expression  of  countenance." 

With  the  exception  of  this  meagre  account  we  have  no 
further  information  regarding  Timor-laut  for  nearly  thirty- 
eight  years,  when  a  vessel  belonging  to  some  Banda  traders 
visited  the  island  in  1877,  an  account  of  which  is  given  in  the 
Journal  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society  for  1878  (p.  294), 
under  the  title  of  "  Voyages  of  the  Steamer  Egeron  in  the 
Indian  Archipchigo,  including  the  discovery  of  Egeron  Strait 
in  the  Tenimber  or  Timor-laut  Islands."  These  voyages  were 
21 


302  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

undertaken  chiefly  for  trade  purposes.  Mr.  Hartog  has  the 
honour  of  being  the  tirst  person  to  sail  through  the  strait 
separating  the  north  and  south  islands  which  bears  the  name 
of  his  vessel ;  but  Captain  Owen  Stanley  was  really  the  first 
to  indicate  the  existence  of  this  strait ;  for  in  his  '  Notes  of  a 
Cruise  in  the  Eastern  Archipelago  in  1841-2,'  which  are  to 
be  found  in  the  Journal  of  the  same  Society  for  1842  (vol.  xii. 
p.  263)  he  writes  :  "  After  leaving  Baber,  Ave  made  the  island 
of  Sera,  on  the  west  coast  of  Timor-laut,  and  then  stood  across 
for  Australia.  A  good  harbour  is  said  to  exist  in  the  south 
part  of  Timor-laut,  which  is  sejMrated  from  the  north  part  ly 
a  deep  cliannel.  Indeed,"  he  continues,  "  I  feel  sure  that 
M'hen  the  island  is  properly  examined,  it  will  be  found  to 
consist  of  several  islands  separated  by  narrow  channels." 

As  we  drew  nearer  and  nearer  w^e  carefully  and  anxiously 
watched  the  growing  features  of  our  new  home.  I  observed 
that  the  much  indented  coast,  a  low  and  narrow  foreshore 
covered  with  a  thick  forest  of  cocoa-nut  trees  and  dark-green 
mangrove  thickets,  Avas  fringed  in  most  places  Avith  a  precipi- 
tous bluff,  on  Avhich  principally  the  villages,  Avhose  houses 
glinted  through  the  vegetation  above  them,  Avere  situated.  At 
midday  Ave  entered  the  narroAv  strait  between  the  mainland 
and  the  island  of  Larat,  and  anchored  opposite  the  village  of 
Ritabel.  As  soon  as  wo  had  made  fast,  several  boats — the  fore- 
most of  them  rather  timidly — put  out  from  both  shores,  and 
in  a  few  minutes  Ave  were  surrounded  by  a  little  fleet,  Avhose 
occupants  scrambled  on  board,  talking  and  jabbering  as  only 
Papuans  can,  affording  us  an  opportunity  of  forming  some 
opinion  of  those  who  Avere  to  be  our  friends  or  foes  for  the 
next  three  months.  They  were  powerful  athletic  felloAvs,  and 
conducted  themselves  exceedingly  well,  apparently  aAved  by 
Avhat  they  saw  on  board  of  the  marvellous  things  of  civilisa- 
tion. Their  sole  request  AA'as  for  laru  or  gin,  the  most-prized 
by  them  of  all  earthly  commodities. 

After  depositing  our  baggage,  our  three  servants  and  our 
two  selves  on  the  shore,  the  Amhoina  at  once  hoisted  her  anchor 
and  bore  aAA'ay.  We  sat  down  on  a  chest  and  watched  her 
grow  less  and  less  and  disappear  over  the  horizon,  Avith  feelings 
somcAvhat  of  desolation  and  not  without  some  misgivings,  left 
there  the  sole  Europeans  among   a  race  of  the  very  worst 


JX   TIMOR-LAUT.  'SQ{ 


reputation  and  without  the  jDossibility  of  communicatin'>-  ^Yith 
civilisation  for  at  least  three  months  to  come. 

We  found  the  Postholder  a  native  of  one  of  the  Moluccas 
Islands,  loft  here  by  the  Resident  in  the  bsginniuo-  of  ^^Eav, 
fairly  well  housed ;  but  he  told  us  he  had  suffered  terribly 
from  fever.  He  was  good  enough  to  let  us  a  room,  and  to 
allow  us  to  store  our  baggage  under  the  verandah  of  his  house 
till  we  should  obtain  one  of  our  own.  We  then  sauntered  out 
through  the  village,  which  is  situated  on  the  foreshore  against 
a  cliff;  the  houses  resembled  those  figured  in  Captain  Owen 
Stanley's  narrative  already  referred  to.  They  were  arrano-ed 
more  or  less  in  irregular  streets,  with  their  gables  as  a  rule  to 
the  sea,  to  allow  of  their  praus  being  run  up  under  tbem, 
though  in  many  cases  separate  sheds  were  erected  for  them. 
All  round  the  village  we  found  a  high  strong  palisade,  with  a 
portion  removable,  however,  on  the  shore  side  in  the  daytime. 
In  attempting  to  pass  out  by  the  landward  gateway  we  were  at 
once  restrained  by  scA^eral  of  the  villagers  following  us,  who 
pointed  to  the  ground  in  an  excited  manner,  demonstrating  to 
us  its  surface  everywhere  set  with  sharpened  bamboo  spikes, 
except  along  a  narrow  footpath.  Their  gestures  instantly 
opened  our  eyes,  with  an  unpleasant  shock,  to  the  truth  that 
wo  were  environed  by  enemies,  and  the  village  was  standiu"- 
on  its  defence. 

Outside  the  gate  we  catered  under  a  cocoa-nut  forest,  among 
ferns  {Asplenium,  Pteris,  and  Pohjpodium),  Clerodendrons,  low 
Solanums  and  Malvaceous  shrubs,  which  grew  densely  over 
the  coral  foreshore  of  the  island,  in  front  of  the  abrupt  cliffs, 
along  whose  sunny  bases  I  saw  several  butterflies  unknown  to 
me  and  new  to  science ;  but — not  possessing  cuirassed  limbs 
which  could  despise  the  bayonet  crop  that  overspread  tho 
ground,  from  which  in  that  climate  even  a  slight  wound  pro- 
duces often  the  most  serious  results — many  of  them  defied  our 
deftest  attempts  to  ensnare.  The  first  specimen  I  netted  was 
a  new  Swallow-tail  butterfly  (Papilto  abcrrans),  and  the  first 
beetle  a  gorgeous  golden  Bupresti<l  (Ciipliognslra  splendvns). 

Turnini;  in  another  direction,  brcakinji:  throu<rh  j«:i'rantic 
maises  and  walls  of  si)idcrs'  webs,  we  ascended  the  bluff  of 
which  I  have  spoken,  on  which  grew  some  Papilionaceous  trees 
of  considerable  height,  along  with  Erythrinas  and  others  I  did 


30-4  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

not  know,  but  in  their  branches  I  espied  the  beautiful  scarlet 
Lory  {Eos  reticulata),\\h.\ch,  though  it  had  been  long  known  from 
these  islands,  I  was  perhaps  the  first  European  to  see  alive  in 
its  own  country,  and  certainly  the  first  to  shoot  there.  During 
the  same  walk  we  were  surprised  to  hear  from  a  cocoa-nut  tree 
near  the  village  a  most  singular  bawling,  or  caterwauling, 
vhich  I  thought  must  proceed  from  one  of  the  children  at 
play,  but  which  I  at  last  perceived  to  be  produced  by  a  new 
species  of  Honey-eater  {Philemon),  whose  voice  became  familiar 
to  us  as  the  earliest  and  the  latest  sounds  of  the  day.  These 
observations  raised  high  hopes  in  my  breast  as  to  what  I  yet 
might  discover,  for  the  species  I  had  seen  were  almost  all  new. 

The  next  sight  was  less  exhilarating — on  a  tree-clad 
elevation  the  half-burned  and  recently  deserted  village  of 
Eidol ;  and  from  the  branch  of  a  high  tree  before  us  a  human 
arm,  hacked  out  by  the  shoulder-blade  dangled  in  the  breeze, 
and  at  no  great  distance  further  were  recently-gibbeted  human 
heads  and  limbs. 

A  state  of  war,  we  found,  existed  between,  on  the  one  hand, 
the  villagers  of  Piidol  burnt  out  by  the  Kaleobar  people, 
leagued  with  Waitidal  on  the  north-western  corner,  which  had 
taken  them  in,  and  with  Eitabel,  our  village ;  and  on  the 
other  hand,  those  of  Kaleobar,  one  of  the  largest  villages  on 
the  island  situated  on  the  north-eastern  corner,  which  was 
leagued  A\ith  Ivelaan  and  with  Lamdesar,  two  other  village-s 
on  the  south-eastern  coast.  Frequent  raids  had  been  made 
recently  by  these  villages  on  Piitabel,  the  wife  of  whose  chief 
had  recently  been  picked  off  from  the  outside  of  the  palisade 
by  a  lurking  Kaleobar  marksman,  while  many  of  the  villagers 
showed  us  their  recent  wounds  received  in  an  attack  made  a 
few  weeks  before  our  arrival.  The  bamboo  spikes  in  the 
ground  round  the  village  were  set  to  prevent  such  clandestine 
approaches.  During  the  day  they  were  removed  from  the 
paths  which  led  to  their  fields  and  wells,  and  at  sunset,  when 
tJie  last  man  had  returned  to  the  village,  the  pathway  was 
carefully  reset,  and  the  gateway  barricaded  for  the  night ;  it 
was  the  duty  of  the  first  goer-out  in  the  morning  to  open 
the  gate  and  remove  the  sj^ikes.  In  this  affray  it  was  that 
the  unfortunates,  who  owned  the  dismembered  limbs  we  had 
seen,  were  captured.     These  grim  mementoes  did  not  inspire 


IN  TIMOR-LAUT.  305 


either  of  us  Avith  the  most  pleasant  reflections,  but  we  deter- 
mined to  close  our  eyes  on  all  but  the  bright  side  of  the 
picture  of  Avhich  we  had  got  a  glimpse. 

The  villagers  seemed  perfectly  well  disposed  towards  us, 
without  fear  or  suspicion  of  us.  AVe  ventured  to  look  into 
their  homes  as  we  returned  from  our  survey,  and  they  beckoned 
us  in  with  a  smile. 

Our  first  care  was  to  obtain  a  liouse,  and  at  once  on  our  first 
morning  I  set  about  looking  for  a  site.  Those  who  know  best 
what  uncivilised  ways  are  will  understand  our  vexation  at  the 
difficulties  now  encountered,  the  excuses  for  refusing  one  spot 
after  another,  the  whole-day  palavers  abandoned  at  night 
without  result,  and  day  after  day  for  eight  days.  By  a  large 
present  all  round  I  had  the  satisfaction  of  at  last  cajoling  the 
old  men  into  deciding  on  a  site  lying  within  the  tide  mark, 
which  forthwith  was  occupied  before  they  could  change  their 
minds. 

During  the  progress  of  the  building  which  of  necessity 
had  to  be  a  pile  dwelling,  and  when  my  presence  and 
actual  help  were  not  necessary,  we  made  short  excursions  to 
the  immediate  neighbourhood  on  which  we  were  always 
accompanied  by  some  of  the  natives,  who  seemed  to  take 
the  liveliest  possible  interest  in  our  doings,  and  with  whom 
we  mixed  as  much  as  we  could.  Perceiving  that  I  recorded 
their  names  for  everything  we  encountered,  they  themselves 
adopted  the  role  of  teacher — the  young  women  not  less 
than  the  men — repeating  to  us  the  name  of  every  tangible 
object,  as  well  as  trying  to  bring  us  to  a  comprehension  of 
their  expressions  for  abstract  ideas.  After  some  days  they 
began  regularly  to  catechise  us  in  past  lessons,  bringing  us 
various  objects  whose  names  they  had  already  given  us, 
and  by  signs  requiring  us  to  repeat  to  them  their  names, 
laughing  heartily  at  us  when  we  made  a  failure  or  a  mis- 
pronunciation. The  buttons  on  our  garments  formed  ex- 
cellent objects  on  which  to  teach  us  numeration,  and  many 
a  score  of  times  we  have  had  to  stand  while  some  Yenus- 
formed  maiden  encountering  us  in  the  village  insisted  on 
hearing  us  recount  their  tale  again.  So  assiduous  and 
apparently  interested  in  our  acquiring  their  Inngunge  were 
they,  that  their  willing  lessons  are  to  us  now  one  of  l^hc  most 


306  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

pleasing  reminiscences  of  these  simple  people.  We  of  course 
very  soon  began  to  be  able  to  hold  some  sort  of  converse  with 
them  in  their  own  language,  which  resembled  that  spoken  by 

the  Ke  Islanders  ;  and  through  A ,  who  had  become  a  great 

favourite  with  the  people,  caressed  and  affectionately  patted 
by  them  in  her  wanderings  about  the  village,  we  got  to  know 
much  of  their  inner  life. 

We  soon  found  that  a  great  deal  of  the  barter  goods  we  had 
brought  were  of  little  use  among  these  people.  Only  our 
German  knives,  cloths,  and  calico  would  be  tradeable.  Our 
beads  they  would  not  look  at,  they  were  too  coarse  and  large  ; 
their  taste  lay  in  the  small  scarlet  and  blue  sorts,  I  had 
brought  a  good  many  English  sovereigns  ;  they  looked  at 
them  narrowly  and  weighed  them,  but  would  not  trade  in 
them.  This  I  considered  very  strange,  inasmuch  as  their  most 
valued  possessions  were  gold  earrings.  The  explanation,  how- 
ever, I  discovered  later.  The  Egerons  master,  it  seems,  had 
brought  a  quantity  of  false  English  gold  made  in  Singapore, 
using  them  as  barter  articles  with  the  people  on  his  first 
voyages,  and  some  of  which  they  showed  me.  When  they 
came  to  beat  out  these  coins  the  deception  was  at  once  discov- 
ered, and  during  our  visit  it  was  impossible  to  pass  a  single 
gold  piece.  Had  the  natives  had  the  certainty  that  the  coins 
were  genuine,  they  would  have  given  many  times  their  value 
in  exchange,  and,  being  easily  transported,  they  ought  to  have 
formed  our  most  valuable  trade  medium.  We  learned,  too, 
what  caused  us  considerable  anxiety,  that  the  islands  produced 
practically  no  rice  ;  nor  was  sago,  as  used  on  the  other  islands, 
to  be  had  unless  we  could  manufacture  it  ourselves  from  the 
trees.  The  products  of  the  island  from  which  the  natives 
mainly  obtained  their  food-supply  were  Indian  corn,  sweet 
potatoes,  and  a  few  species  of  legume,  which  was  all  we  should 
have  to  fall  back  on  if  our  own  not  very  ample  supplies  ran 
siiort 


IN  TIMOR-LAUT.  307 


CHAPTEE  IV. 

SOJOURN  IN  TiMOR-LAUT — continued. 

The  natives — Hair  and  cuiffures — Vanity— Stature  and  living  characteristics 
— Cranial  characters  —  Clotliin.'  —  Tjilcalele  dance — Arms  —  Marriaae 
—Artistic  skill — Individual  and  moial  character — Treatment  of  their 
children — Games — Fine  figures — Graves — Gocd  butteifl\-  resorts. 

Many  trvine;  and  vexatious  delays — the  laziness  of  the  natives, 
quarrels  in  the  village,  and  fear  of  attacks  from  our  neigh- 
bours, which  are  easier  to  look  back  on  from  the  midst  of  civili- 
sation than  to  bear  at  tl\e  time,  -with  equanimity — prevented  out 
house,  which  taxed  all  our  energies,  from  being  finished  till 
the  nineteenth  day  after  our  arrival,  and  not  till  then  was  I 
able  to  commence  making  any  close  study  of  the  surrounding 
country,  or  of  its  flora  and  fauna.  But  we  had  no  useless  time 
on  our  hands,  everything  was  so  new  to  us.  The  people  that 
came  about  us  to  gaze,  were  all  subjects  deserving  the  closest 
study.  Their  every  gesture  and  every  custom  had  to  be 
watched  with  microscopic  acuteness,  if  we  were  to  improve  our 
opportunities  and  not  fail  in  deciphering  the  story — only  thus 
recorded  and  to  be  ere  long  blurred  and  blotted  by  foreign 
contact — of  their  race,  incessantly  being  unfolded  before  us 
in  their  every  unconscious  word  and  commonest  action. 

All  the  natives  of  the  islands  we  saw  were  handsome-featured 
fellows,  lithe,  tall,  erect,  and  with  splendidly  formed  bodies. 
They  dyed  their  hair  of  a  rich  golden  colour  by  a  preparation 
made  of  cocoa-nut  ash  and  lime,  varying,  however,  in  shade 
with  the  time,  from  a  dirty  grey  through  a  red  or  russet  colour, 
till  the  second  day,  when  the  approved  tint  appeared.  Several 
modes  of  arranging  their  hair  were  in  vogue.  It  was  either 
carefully  combed  out,  transfixed  with  a  long  fork-like  comb, 
and  confined  within  a  single  girdle  of  palm-leaf,  or  a  black,  red 


308 


A   NATDBALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


and  white  patchwork  band,  was  allowed  to  hang  loose  to  the 
shoulders  ;  or  it  \\as  done  up  in  a  frizzed  mop,  different,  how- 
ever, from  the  unravellable  matted  wisp  seen  on  the  Papuans 


J.ft.O  '■^-' 

COIFFURES   OF   THE   NATIVES   OF   TIMOK-LAUT. 

of  Macluer  Inlet  in  New  Guinea,  or  among  the  Aru  Islanders. 
Their  coiffure  seems  to  depend  on  the  kind  of  hair,  straight 
or  frizzled,  that  Nature  has  given  them  ;  when  frizzled  it  is 


arranged  in  a  mop,  and  Avhen  straight  it  is  combed  out  and 
crimped  with  the  instrument  shown  on  page  309,  to  hang 
down  the  back  in  a  "  cataract."  The  arranging  of  their  hair  is 
one  of  their  most  enjoyed  occupations,  and  the  vanity  with  which 


IN  TIMOR-LAUT.  309 


they  bind  it  within  various  coloured  bands  —narrow  above  broad 
—laid  one  on  another,  before  a  mirror  formed  of  water  collected 
in  the  bottom  of  a  prau,  or  on  the  calm  sea-face  itself,  is  most 
amusing  to  see.  The  men  are  very  fond  of  having  their  hair 
cut  quite  short,  as  it  no  doubt  relieves  them  for  a  time  bv 
reducing  the  population  in  that  region  of  their  bodies. 

One  day  some  of  them  seeing  in  our  house  a  pair  of  scissors, 
eagerly  begged  its  use  for  this  purpose,  whereupon  one  of 
them  at  once  started  as  haircutter,  and  as  soon  as  it  was  known 
that  such  operations  were  going  on  a  crowd  collected,  and, 
sitting  down  in  a  row,  waited  for  their  turn.  We  tried  to 
get  some  specimens  of  their  locks,  but  when  they  saw  that  we 
desired  to  keep  the  portions  we  picked  up,  they  became  quite 
afraid,  and  excitedly  demanded  them  back,  for  fear,  as  they 
said,  they  would  die  if  they  remained  in  our  keeping.  They 
gathered  up  every  scrap,  and  had 
not  a  kind  wind  assisted  us,  and 
blown  a  few  pieces  to  a  littlo  dis- 
tance  out   of    their   sight,   which 

A and  I  marked  down  noting 

the  subject  from  which  each  had 
come,  we  could  not  have  obtained 
a  single  specimen.  In  Sumatra 
I  once  saw  a  man  most  carefullv    i^'s™^«ent  for  crimping  the 

HAIU. 

bury  the   scraps  after   paring   his 

finger-nails.  It  seems  as  if  there  existed  in  these  countries 
a  superstitious  dread  of  any  part  of  their  person  being  in  pos- 
session of  another.  One  day,  when  I  purchased  from  a  man 
his  father's  skull,  something  of  the  same  dread  appeared; 
for  as  soon  as  the  bargain  was  completed,  the  seller  took  from 
his  luvu  (or  siri-holder)  a  piece  of  areca-nut,  and,  setting  the 
skull  before  him,  he  placed  the  nut  between  its  teeth,  and  before 
handing  it  over  to  me  he  repeated  a  long  and  devout  invoca- 
tion. On  another  occasion,  also,  when  I  purchased  from  an  old 
man  a  large  fish,  which  he  had  just  taken  with  great  difficulty, 
he  would  not  hand  it  over  to  me  till  he  had  cut  oft'  one  of  the 
pectoral  fins,  to  return  it,  with  an  invocation  to  the  nitu,  or 
soul  of  the  fish,  lest  he  should  come  by  harm. 

The  character  of  the  hair  is  the  same  in  both  sexes.     Among 
the   women   hair   is   abundant   on   the    head    without    being 


310  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

profuse  ;  but  they  take  little  or  no  care  of  it,  simply  twisting 
it  into  a  knot  behind,  where  it  is  transfixed  with  a  neatly 
ornamented  comb.  They  never  dye  it,  that  apparently  being 
the  prerogative  of  the  male  sex  alone. 

The  men  vary  very  greatly  in  stature  :  some  are  short  and 
thick-set,  and  reach  little  over  5  feet,  if  they  (!ven  attain  that 
height.  The  greater  proportion  are  tall,  well  formed  men  of 
about  5  feet  11  inches,  but  some  stand  well  over  G  feet — 
splendid  looking  fellows  with  perfect  frames  and  magnificent 
muscles.  In  their  walk  they  stride  forward  in  a  jerky, 
bouncing  style,  which  gives  to  the  head  and  their  hair 
when  combed  out  behind,  a  quick  nodding  motion.  Their 
whole  motion  is  full  of  grace,  but  so  proportioned  are  they  that 
it  really  seems  scarcely  possible  for  them  to  move  ungrace- 
fully. As  youths  they  are  splendid  examples  of  the  human 
form ;  as  children  not  a  few  of  both  sexes  are  really  pretty 
in  face  and  figure,  but  unfortunately  they  are  frequently  dis- 
figured by  an  enormously  distended  stomach  and  abdomen, 
which  induces  a  sad  and  sickly  expression  of  countenance. 
The  women  vary  greatly  also ;  some  being  short  and  thick-set, 
scarcely  reaching  5  feet,  while  others  are  as  tall  as  the  taller 
of  the  men.  Many  of  the  girls  are  handsome,  and  a  few  are 
even  beauties,  with  pensive  eyes,  delicate  features,  and  fault- 
less in  contour  of  body  and  limb ;  but  as  they  pass  into  the 
married  state  their  features  become  coarser,  yet  on  the  whole 
neither  sex  can  be  called  ugly. 

The  colour  of  their  smooth  soft  skin  is  a  rich  chocolate  brown  ; 
but  here  and  there  among  them  occurs  a  quite  black-skinned 
individual,  who  is  at  once  remarkable  as  being  an  exception  to 
the  prevailing  colour.  In  feature  the  forehead  retreats  slightly 
from  the  prominent  superciliary  ridges,  as  seen  in  profile.  En 
face  it  is  somewhat  flat.  In  the  malar  region,  in  some  the 
cheek-bones  are  very  prominent ;  while  in  others,  again,  this 
feature  is  as  little  observable.  The  brows  are  low,  but  not  con- 
spicuously hairy.  The  eyes  are  small  and  narrow,  and  in  some 
of  them  a  slight  obliquity  is  observable,  while,  on  the  other  hand, 
there  are  those  with  the  eyeball  very  prominent.  There  are  two 
distinct  forms  of  nose  among  them  :  one  in  which  that  feature  is 
very  low  between  the  eyes,  advancing  with  a  straight  dorsum  to 
the  retrousse  tip,  which  discloses  both  nostrils  conspicuously, 


IN  TIMOR-LAUT.  311 


the  tip  being  markedly  pointed ;  the  other  form  in  which  the 
dorsum  is  higher  between  the  eyes,  is  straight,  and  sometimes 
arched,  and  the  tip  pointed,  depressed,  and  incurved  to  form  a 
thick  fat  septum.  In  this  form  the  nostrils  are  almost  concealed, 
and  the  alie  nasi  much  inflated.  En  face  both  dorsa  are  straight, 
the  first  form  exhibiting  the  nostrils  fully  and  the  septum  ;  the 
second  form  with  the  dorsum  compressed  slightly  in  the  middle, 
the  nostrils  scarcely  seen,  and  the  alse  nasi  inflated.  The  upper 
lip  is  prognathus ;  the  lower  somewhat  retreating  or  orthogna- 
thus.  The  teeth  of  the  upper  jaw  overlap  those  of  the  lower 
jaw,  but  this  is  not  invariable,  -many  of  both  sexes  having  the 
teeth  meeting  evenly.  From  the  malar  region  the  face  rapidly 
converges  to  the  small,  non-protruding,  round,  and  rather  well- 
shaped  chin.  The  ears  are  small,  but  a  good  deal  disfigured 
by  the  large  irregularly  bored  holes  and  slits  made  in  the 
lobe,  while  the  helix  and  scaphoid  fossa  are  distorted  by  a 
series  of  smaller  holes  in  which  the  earring's  graduate  from 
above  downwards,  from  small  to  greater. 

From  my  own  observations  on  the  living  people,  as  well  as 
from  an  examination  kindly  made  for  me  by  Dr.  Garson  of  the 
crania  which  I  brought  home,  two  very  different  types  can 
be  made  out,  the  brachycephalic  and  the  dolichocephalic,  the 
former  greatly  predominating.  From  the  differences  in  colour  of 
the  skin,  from  the  variation  seen  in  the  features  and  in  the 
character  of  the  hair  it  is  evident  that  in  the  Tenimber  Islands 
we  have  a  distinctly  mixed  race,  consisting  of  Malayan  and 
Polynesian  elements,  as  well  as  of  the  Papuan  as  found  in  New 
Guinea ;  in  fact,  some  of  their  crania  are  indistinguishable  from 
specimens  obtained  near  Port  3Ioresby.  The  Malayan  type  of 
nose  did  not  always  coincide  with  the  presence  of  straight  hair, 
though  in  some  cases  they  did  so  markedly.  I  noted  women 
in  Larat  with  perfectly  straight  hair,  and  yet  with  the  Papuan 
type  of  nose  and  face ;  and  others  again  in  wliom  frizzly  hair 
accompanied  a  nose  half  Papuan,  half  3Ialayan. 

By  Polynesian  I  mean  the  brown  race  seen  in  the  Fiji  and 
Samoan  Islands,  as  distinguished  from  the  sooty  black  tribes 
occurring  in  Aru  and  New  Guinea.  This  commingling  may 
be  the  result  of  many  causes.  Timor-laut  was  probably  one 
of  the  last  Islands,  as  I\[r.  Keane  believes,  occupied  by  the 
Polynesian  race  in  Malaysia  during  its  eastern  migration  to 


312 


A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


the  remote  Archipelagos  of  the  Pacific,  and  some  members  of 
tlie  family  may  have  been  left  behind,  and  these  mingling 
with  subsequent  arrivals  from  Papuasia  and  Malaysia  may 
have  thus  contributed  to  the  present  heterogeneous  ethnical 
relations  observed  hy  me. 

That  some  connection  with  the  Indo-Malayan  region  has 
taken  place,  seems  to  be  indicated  by  the  presence  of  tlie 
Tangalunga  one  of  the  Viverridx,  so  commonly  carried  about 
by  these  jjeople,  and  of  the  herds  of  buffaloes  on  the  mainland, 


ORNAMENTED   BELT-BLCKLE. 


animals  quite  foreign  to  the  Austro-Malayan  region,  which  must 
have  been  brought  by  the  Malays,  though  it  is  incredible  that 
in  their  small  praus  they  would  carry  so  great  a  quadruped 
as  a  buffalo.  The  Timor-laut  tribes  have,  moreover,  been  long 
notorious  for  their  piratical  habits,  attacking  all  boats  passing- 
near  their  shores,  making  slaves  of  the  men,  and  concubines  of 
the  Avomen,  In  the  boats  that  called  at  Ritabel  on  their  way 
home  from  various  parts  of  the  group  I  have  seen  being  taken 
back  with  them  women,  Avhom  the  chain  binding  them  to 
the  mast  proclaimed  to  be  slaves  captured  or  bought.     The 


7.V   TIMOE-LAUT. 


313 


Buginese  and  Macassar  traders  also  carry  on  a  considerable 
traffic  in  slaves,  bringing  them  from  Halmaheira  and  the  coasts 
of  Borneo  and  Celebes.  In  this  way  also  may  be  accounted 
for  some  of  the  race-mingling. 

The  clothing  of  the  men  consists  of  a  narrow  T-shaped  loin- 
cloth, with  the  ends  which  hang  down  in  front  decorated  with  red, 
black  and  white  patchwork,  and  adorned  with  sections  of  cowrie- 
shells  and  with  beads.  The  women  wear  a  short  sarong  (Malay 
petticoat),  artistically  woven  by  themselves  out  of  the  fibres  of 
the  Aloan-palm  {Borassus  jlabeUiformh),  suspended  by  a  broad 
belt  made  from  the  stem  of  its  leaf  and  fastened  by  an  elaborately 
carved  buckle  of  wood  which  frequently  in  married  women  has 
been  the  gift  of  her  husband  at  the  time  when  her  purchase-money 
was  agreed  on,  possibly  a  sort  of  engagement  token.  Armlets 
cut  from  conus  shells,  of  brass,  of  ivory,  or 
of  wood,  carved  like  those  worn  by  the  Hill 
Dyaks  of  Borneo,  are  worn  by  both  sexes ; 
while  the  women  have  in  addition  toe-rings 
and  anklets  of  brass.  Bound  the  helix  and 
in  the  lobe  of  their  ears  the  women  wear  a 
graduated  series  of  silver  or  of  gold  lor- 
lora  or  rings,  which  in  the  case  of  the  men 
is  often  so  heavy  as  to  break  away  the 
cartilage.  The  patterns  of  these  ear  orna- 
ments are  exceedingly  chaste,  especially 
those  carved  out  of  bone,  of  ivory  and 
ebony  combined,  or  of  the  tooth  of  the  rare 
and  highly-prized  dugong  {Ilalicore). 

Both  sexes  tatoo  a  few  simple  devices, 
circles,  stars  and  pointed  crosses,  on  the  breast,  on  the  brow,  on 
the  cheek,  and  on  the  wrists  ;  and  scar,  with  the  utmost  equani- 
mity, their  arms  and  shoulders  with  red  hot  stones  in  imitation 
of  small-pox  marks,  as  a  charm  that  will  ward  off,  they  think, 
that  disease.  I  did  not,  however,  see  any  one  variola-marked, 
nor  could  I  learn  of  an  epidemic  of  the  disease  having  appeared 
among  them.  As  it  was  considered  by  the  women  a  mark  of 
beauty  to  have  filed  teeth,  some  of  them  had  only  a  narrow 
rim  left  protruding  from  their  gums. 

The  men  spend   a  life  of  savage  indolence  or   indulgence, 
the  women  alone  are  always  busily  occupied.    In  tlie  morning, 


314  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

after  arranging  their  hair,  the  men  remove  from  the  palm- 
trees,  invariably  to  the  chanting  of  a  song  of  invocation,  the 
bamboos  with  the  tuak  collected  in  them  over  night,  and  trim 
the  stem  for  running  during  the  day  to  supply  their  evening 
libations.  Than  Avhen  ascending  the  trees  the  Tenimber  athlete, 
his  fautless  form  against  the  sky,  and  his  brown  skin  and 
golden  hair  in  contrast  with  the  grey  stem  of  the  tree,  never 
shows  to  greater  advantage. 

The  chief  meal  of  the  day  lasts  from  about  eight  o'clock  till 
nearly  noon,  and  consists  of  boiled  Indian  corn  meal,  mixed 
with  mashed  manioc  and  peas,  along  with  fish — hunted  for  along 
the  shore  with  bow  and  arrow,  or  by  scattering  on  the  water 
rice  steeped  in  an  infusion  of  a  poisonous  vine — and  a  very  great 
deal  of  palm  wine,  fresh  drawn  as  well  as  distilled.  1"he  meal 
is  partaken  of  in  considerable  companies  together  in  large  sheds 
open  at  the  gables  in  or  near  the  village,  generally  in  the 
buildings  where  their  tuah  is  being  distilled,  which  are  used  also 
for  commou  assembly  rooms.  Very  few  of  the  older  men  leave 
the  meal  sober,  or  become  "  capable  "  during  the  rest  of  the  day, 
a  condition  in  which  they  are  boisterously  talkative,  querulous 
and  pugnacious.  The  women  eat  in  private,  or  snatch  a  bite 
of  food  when  they  can. 

All  day  long  two  ceaseless  sounds  are  heard,  the  click-clack 
of  their  looms  and  the  dull  thud  of  the  stamping  of  Indian  corn 
and  peas  in  large  tridacna  shells.  If  the  women  are  not  thus 
employed  they  are  away  by  prahu,  accompanied  by  some  of  the 
younger  men,  to  fetch  the  necessary  stores  from  their  gardens. 
In  these  plantations,  made  in  the  forest  on  the  poor  soil  which 
covers  the  underlying  coral  rocks,  they  cultivate  sweet  potatoes, 
manioc,  sugar  cane,  and  their  staple  food,  Indian  corn,  witli 
a  little  rice  (which  grows  very  badly),  some  cotton,  and  a  good 
deal  of  tobacco,  whose  leaves  they  chew  but  do  not  smoke. 

In  time  of  war  the  common  safety  is  watched  all  night  by 
the  villagers,  eight  or  ten  at  a  time  in  rotation,  who  dance  the 
Tjikelele  round  a  figure  of  their  deity,  or  Duadilah,  each  man 
beating  with  his  hand  on  a  cylindrical  drum,  singing  to  its 
accompaniment  a  song  or  invocation  with  a  wild  and  shrieking 
chorus,  which  at  the  time  of  full  moon  is  Iccpt  up  for  many 
unbroken  days  and  nights. 

Their  arms    are   a   shield,    often   elaborately   carved    and 


IN   TIMOR-LAUT.  315 


adorned  with  the  hair  of  their  enemies,  bows  and  arrows,  and 
various  forms  of  iron  or  cojjper  pointed  hmces  and  sp(?ars, 
which  they  can  use  with  marvellous  precision,  and  a  long 
sword  carried  in  a  loop  in  a  buffalo-hide  corslet  to  fit  beneath 
the  arms  made  by  themselves,  and  resembling  a  16th  century 
cuirass,  of  which  it  is  probably  a  copy.  They  use  also 
counterfeit  Tower  guns  (made  in  Singapore),  but  as  they  fill 
them  with  gunpowder  almost  to  the  muzzle  they  are  nothing 
like  the  dangerous  weapon — except  to  themselves — that  their 
unerring  arrow  is. 

A  man  may  have  as  many  wives  as  he  can  purchase,  but  as 
a  rule  it  is  all  he  can  do  to  secure  one,  till,  at  least,  he  is  con- 
siderably advanced  in  years,  and  has  disposed  of  some  of  his 
daughters  for  gold  earrings  and  elephants'  tusks,  two  factors 
which  cannot  be  eliminated  from  the  bargain,  and  arc  not  over 
common.  These  tusks  are  brought  cliiefly  from  Singapore 
and  Sumatra  where  they  cost  200  or  300  florins  each,  by  the 
Buginese  traders,  who  with  the  westerly  winds  seek  out  the 
creeks  and  bays  of  the  '•'  far,  far  East "  to  exchange  them  for 
trepang  and  tortoisesholl.  The  father  of  the  girl  has  often  to 
wait  a  long  time  for  the  ivory  portion  of  her  price;  but  he 
liands  her  over,  on  the  payment  of  the  other  items  of  the 
bargain,  to  her  purchaser,  who  takes  up  his  abode  in  her 
house,  where  she  and  her  children  remain  as  hostages  till  the 
full  price  is  paid.  A  girl  sorely  wounded  by  the  Blind  God 
occasionally  takes  the  settlement  of  affairs  into  her  own  hands, 
and  runs  away  with  the  object  of  her  affection,  without  the 
permission  of  her  parents,  a  proceeding  which  does  not  relieve 
him  of  the  purchase  money.  If,  however,  she  had  been  or 
was  about  to  bo  disposed  of  to  another  man,  and  had  eloped 
with  a  more  desired  youth,  she  would  be  forcibly  seized  and 
her  companion  would  be  punished  with  death.  Their  wives, 
if  not  treated  with  a  great  show  of  affection,  are  not  subjected 
to  much  restraint  or  subjection,  and  live  a  free  and  not 
unhappy  life. 

The  opening  months  of  a  Tenimber's  islander's  existence  are 
not  passed  on  a  bed  of  roses.  Strolling  through  the  village  one 
evening  we  were  beckoned  into  a  hut  to  see  a  newly  born  infant. 
It  was  lying  quite  naked,  witli  only  a  hard  palm-spathe  be- 
neath its  back  and  a  square  inch  or  so  of  cloth  on  its  stomach, 


316 


A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


in  a  rude  cradle  or  Siicela,  a  rough  rattan  basket  suspended  so 
as  to  rock  over  a  fire  in  a  smoke  so  dense  that  we  were 
amazed  that  it  was  not  suffocated.     Occasionally  the  nurse  drops 


CARVED  COMB,  OUN'AMENTED  WITH  INLAID  BONE. 

to  sleep,  and  the  fire  burns  the  bottom  out  of  the  Siicela,  and 
the  child  is  worse  off  than  if  it  had  been  bitten  by  all  the  mos- 
quitos  of  Larat,  to  be  free  from  which  it  is  so  susjaended.     The 


IN  TIMOR-LAUT. 


317 


child,  it  would  seem,  is  invariably  laid  in  exactly  the  same  posi- 
tion in  the  cradle,  either  on  its  back  or  on  one  side  according 
to  the  j)lace  of  its  suspension  in  the  house,  with  the  result  that 
the  hinder  part  of  its  head  becomes  quite  flattened.  In  some 
living  infants  the  deformity  was  very  prominent,  and  that  it 
remains  permanent  is  evidenced  by  one  of 
the  crania  of  a  full-grown  man  which  I 
brought  home ;  but  no  sort  of  binding  is 
applied  to  the  head  in  any  stage  of  their 
youth,  as  among  many  tribes,  to  induce  an 
abnormal  and  admired  shape  of  head. 

The  artistic  ability  of  the  Timor-laut 
people  is  unquestionably  very  high.  They 
are  very  deft-fingered  and  clever  carvers 
of  wood  and  ivory.  The  "  ligure-heads  " 
of  their  outrigger  praus,  dug  out  of  single 
trees,  especially  attract  attention  by  the 
excellence  of  the  workmanship,  carefully 
and  patiently  executed,  and  the  elegance 
of  their  furnishings ;  while  the  whole 
length  of  the  central  pillars  of  their 
houses  are  also  most  elaborately  carved 
with  intricate  patterns  and  representa- 
tions of  crocodiles  and  other  animals. 
Their  appreciation  of  beauty  is  a  charac- 
teristic of  them,  which,  absolutely  wanting 
in  the  Malay  people,  I  Avas  surprised  to 
find  among  a  less  advanced  race.  While 
walking  tlirough  the  forest  they  invariably 
pluck  and  tastefully  arrange  in  a  hole  in 
their  comb  which  is  there  for  the  very 
purpose,  any  particularly  bright  bunch  of 
flowers  they  see. 

Their  houses,  though  little  more  than 
floor  and  roof,  are  very  neat  structures,  elevated  four  or 
five  feet  above  the  ground,  and  entered  by  a  stair  through 
a  trap-door  cut  in  the  floor,  which  is  shut  down  and  slotted 
at  night.  In  front  of  the  door  is  a  seat  of  honour — dodolmn 
— with  ornamented  supports  and  a  high  carved  back,  on  the 
top  of  which  is  placed  an  image — Duadilah — with,  at  its 
22 


ORXAMENTED    CHALK- 
HOLDER. 


318 


.1    NATURALIST'S    WANDEEINGS 


side,  a  platter  whereon  a  morsel  of  food  is  offered  every  time 
they  eat  in  its  presence.  Every  time  they  drink  they  dip 
their  finger  and  thumb  in  the  fluid,  and  flick  a  drop  or  two 
upward  with  a  few  muttered  words  of  invocation.  Along 
the  four  sides  spaces  for  sleeping  on  are  raised  some  nine 
to  tweh'e  inches  above  the  level  of  the  rahanralan  or  floor  of 
the  house.  The  inmates  sleep  on  small,  neatly  made  bamboo 
mats,  and  rest  their  heads  on  a  piece  of  squared  bamboo  with 
rounded  edges,  exactly  similar  to  the  Chinese  pillow.     In  one 


HOUSE   IN   TIMOR-LAL'T. 


gable  is  the  foean  or  fire-place,  and  opposite  to  it  on  a  trellis- 
work  platform  is  placed  the  cranium  of  the  father  of  the  Head 
of  the  house.  Indian  corn  and  other  comestibles  and  various 
articles  are  stored  on  little  platforms  stretching  between  the 
rafters,  and  their  scanty  clothing  and  other  articles  are  sus- 
pended from  the  roof  by  wooden  contrivances  often  elaborately 
designed  and  elegantly  carved  (see  pp.  320,  324).  After  seeing 
how  elaborately  covered  almost  everything  they  used  Avas  with 
carvings,  executed  with  undoubted  taste  and  surprising  skill, 


7^   TIMOR-LAUT. 


319 


we  began  to  ask  ourselves,  first,  Can  such  artistically  developed 
people  be  savages? — and,  next,  the  more  difficult  question, 
What  is  a  sctvage  ? 

The  Tenimberese  are  very  independent  in  character ;  "  every 
man  his  own  master  "  is  their  motto.  Though  they  have  an 
Orang  Kaya  or  Chief,  his  voice  has  but  little  more  influence 
than  any  other  full- aged  man's.  The  "  old  men's  "  opinion  has 
some  weight  with  the  younger  men,  but  every  man  speaks  out 


HOUSE    IN'   TIJIOK-LAUT,    AVITH    ROOF   REMOVED   TO   SHOW   THE   IXTEUIOR. 

his  mind  boldly  and  fearlessly.  When  any  serious  deliberation 
is  going  on,  the  whole  community  crowds  round  the  assembly 
room,  the  women  even  taking  part,  and  exj)ressing  freely  and 
without  offence  their  opinions.  The  voice  of  the  majority  is 
the  law  of  their  community. 

Their  moral  characteristics  are  such  as  might  bo  expected 
from  a  rude  people  subject  to  no  restraint ;  they  are  sei\sual, 
though  no  immorality  in  their  actions  or  in  their  carvings 
ever  comes  to  the  public  gaze.    They  are  essentially  selfish  and 


320 


A   NATURALIST 'S    WANDERINGS 


devoid  of  all  feelings  of  gratitude  or  pity.    To  give  anything 
for  nothing  would  be  a  breach  of  all  their  hereditary  instincts. 

On  one  occasion,  towards  the  end  of 
our  stay,  when  our  larder  was  empty 
and  our  men  were  away  in  the  northern 
island  of  Molu,  a  bunch  of  fish,  which 

A was  sorely  in  need  of  after  a 

long  bout  of  fever,  was  brought  to  us 
for  sale;  but  the  barter  demanded  was 
a  particular  kind  of  button,  of  which 
we  had  not  a  single  example  remain- 
ing. We  offered  almost  anything  they 
miffht  choose  from  our  stock — cloth, 
knives,  beads — nothing,  however,  but 
the  button  would  satisfy  them.  Give 
us  the  fislies  the  owner  would  not ; 
instead,  he  hung  them  on  a  peg  at  our 
very  door,  where  we  dared  not  have 
touched  them,  w^hers  they  remained 
till  next  day,  when  I  had  to  fetch  him 
to  relieve  us  of  the  putrefying  odour, 
which  he  did  by  casting  them  into 
tlie  sea  !  Where  they  think  they  can 
escape  detection  they  lie  and  steal 
without  compunction,  though  their  laws  punish  the  latter  with 
slavery,  from  which  the  thief  can  be  ransomed  only  by  a  great 
sum.  When  sober  they  are  good  natured  enough  and  live  in 
harmony  with  each  other,  but  in  their  cups  they  are  easily 
offended.  To  their  enemies  they  are  savagely  cruel,  executing 
on  those  that  fall  into  their  hands  the  most  revolting  atrocities 
before  affixing  their  dismembered  quarters  to  their  public 
places. 

Like  all  untutored  races  they  are  very  inquisitive.  They 
watched  our  "  manners  and  customs  "  as  eagerly  as  we  did 
theirs.  From  morning  to  uight  we  had  constant  relays  lying 
in  or  sitting  about  our  house,  whom  it  was  impossible  to  dis- 
miss without  giving  offence.  Though  it  was  a  very  interesting 
study  and  there  was  much  to  be  learned  from  watching  those 
big  children  in  their  various  moods,  it  was  not  quite  pleasant  to 
have  them  alwavs  with  us,  or  to  take  our  food  with  an  inffnitesi- 


SUSrENSORY   CONTRIVANCE 
MADE   OF   PALM-LEAF. 


IN   TIMOR-LAUT.  321 


mally  clad  savage  sitting  at  the  table,  rubbing  his  hips  against 
our  plates.  Happily,  I  observed  one  day  that  they  had  a 
mighty  horror  of  snakes,  which  supplied  me  with  an  effectual 
means  of  ridding  ourselves  when  over-burdened  with  their  com- 
pany. I  would  cautiously  proceed  to  insert  my  hand  without 
any  apparent  reference  to  our  visitors,  into  the  large  tin  in 
which  my  spirit  specimens  were  kept,  an  operation  they  pressed 
closely  and  intently  round  me  to  watch.  A  vigorous  splutter 
inside  made  them  draw  back  somewhat ;  but  on  withdrawing  my 
hand  with  a  writhing  snake,  the  crowd  would  tumble  over  each 
other  out  at  the  door  screaming  and  shouting.  As  they  never 
waited  to  see  the  end  of  the  operation,  they  never  came  to  know 
that  I  had  not  a  mania  for  keeping  live  snakes. 

In  the  treatment  of  their  children,  both  parents  were  inva- 
riably kind  and  affectionate.  To  see  the  fathers  carrying  about 
their  children  in  the  evenings,  with  kindly  care,  one  could 
scarcely  believe  in  the  savage  ferocity  of  their  natures,  as  wo 
had  seen  it  exhibited  more  than  once.  Like  mothers  every- 
where else,  the  women  seemed  pleased  at  the  notice  A would 

take  of  their  infants,  who,  like  those  with  white  skins,  derived 
amusement  from  little  dolls — stuffed  with  rice  grains  instead  of 
sawdust ;  and  the  little  packets  of  sugar  she  often  gave  them 
were  inviolately  kept  though  tempting  enough  to  the  mothers 
also,  and  given  to  them  little  by  little.  All  their  children  were 
profusely  adorned  with  beads  and  necklets,  and  their  little 
limbs  were  encased  in  perfect  bucklers  of  shell  armlets. 

The  youths  and  boys  used  to  play  in  the  evenings  in  the 
most  lively  manner,  often  in  company  with  the  younger  fathers, 
while  a  crowd  of  interested  villagers  looked  on.  One  of  their 
great  amusements  was  the  sailing  of  miniature  boats  elegantly 
made  out  of  cjaha-gaba,  or  sago  palm  stems,  which  they  entered 
for  championship  in  spirited  regattas.  They  would  build  also 
forts  of  sand,  and  defend  them  against  their  comrade  foes  with 
balls  of  wet  mud.  The  laughter  which  hailed  a  good  hit  told 
of  the  enjoyment  and  interest  of  the  on-looking  crowd  of 
villagers  of  all  ages.  Their  chief  game,  however,  one  more  of 
skill  and  precision  tlian  the  others,  was  played  with  discs  cut 
off  from  tlie  top  of  conus  shells,  of  which  each  player  had  two 
One  of  these  quoits  he  deposited  in  a  little  depression  in  the 
ground,  and  the  other  he  played  from  a  crease  a  few  yards 


322  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

distant,  so  as  to  dislodge  a  quoit  from  the  row.  If  the  player 
failed  to  hit  he  had  to  return  to  the  crease  to  play  again  in  his 
turn,  but  if  he  succeeded  he  played  a  second  time  from  where 
his  quoit  rested.  Passing  his  right  hand  holding  the  disc  round 
to  his  left  side  as  far  as  he  could  stretch,  and  steadying  it  w  ith 
his  left  hand,  he  would  take  in  this  position  steady  aim,  calcu- 
lating with  a  glancing  eye  the  spot  he  intended  to  hit,  tlien  with 
a  run  forward  a  few  steps  to  the  crease,  he  would  deliver  with 
all  his  might.  Xot  only  did  the  young  lads  and  boys  engage 
in  this  game,  but  even  the  grown-up  men  jijined  with  much  bois- 
terous laughter.  At  a  very  early  age  the  children  begin  to 
v»ade  about  the  shallow  margins  of  the  sea,  practising  with  spear 
and  arrow  the  capture  of  fish,  training  arm  and  eye  till  when 
they  have  come  of  age,  they  have  attained  an  almost  unerring 
accuracy  of  aim.  A  fine  exhibition  was  to  be  witnessed  of 
the  beauty  of  the  human  figure  when  the  youths — fine  fellows 
in  the  perfection  of  their  manhood — came  out  at  sundown 
to  practise  the  drawing  of  the  bow  m'  throwing  of  the  lance. 
How  awkward  were  the  attempts  of  myself  and  my  Amboinese 
boys  !  How  well-merited  their  good-natured  jeering  !  The 
marvellous  grace,  however,  of  the  human  form  was  unsur- 
passingly  exhibited  when — the  setting  sun  beliind  their  lissom 
untrammelled  figures — the  women  ^Yere  returning  from  the 
fields,  standing  erect  at  the  stern,  and  with  long  strokes  poling 
in  their  buoyant  praus.  One  view  might  shame  half  of  the 
spine-deformed,  waist-distorted  slaves  of  fashion  out  of  cus- 
toms, which  are  as  barbarous  as  any  which  are  recorded  as 
strange  or  hurtful  among  savage  peoples. 

When  a  man  dies,  his  children  and  relatives  assemble  to 
lament  his  departure,  but  I  have  never  seen  any  outward 
expression  or  sign  of  mourning.  A  pig  is  killed,  but  I  am  in 
doubt  whether  it  is  given  to  the  a,ssembled  people  to  eat  or 
laid  with  the  dead  body,  which  is  then  placed  in  a  jiortion  of 
a  prau  fitted  to  the  length  of  the  individual,  or  within  strips 
of  gdba-gaha,  or  stems  of  the  sago  palm  pinned  together.  If  it 
is  a  person  of  some  consequence,  such  as  an  Orang  Kaya,  an 
ornate  and  decorated  prau-shaped  cofiQn  is  specially  made.  This 
is  then  enveloped  in  calico,  and  placed  either  on  the  top  of  a 
rock  by  the  margin  of  the  sea  at  a  short  distance  from  the 
village,  or  on  a  high  pile-platform  erected  on  the  shore  about 


7.V  TIMOR-LAUT. 


323 


low-tide  mark.  On  the  top  of  the  coflSn-lid  are  erected  tall 
flags,  and  the  figures  of  men  playing  gongs,  shooting  guns,  and 
gesticulating  wildly  to  frighten  away  evil  influences  from  the 


GRAVE   OF   A    NATIVE    CHIEF. 


sleeper.  Sometimes  the  platform  is  erected  on  the  shore  above 
high-water  mark,  and  near  it  is  stuck  in  the  ground  a  tall 
bamboo  full  of  palm-wine ;  and  suspended  over  a  bamboo  rail 


324 


A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


are  bunches  of  sweet  potatoes  for  the  use  of  the  dead  man's 
Nitu.  Two  days  after  the  burial,  the  family  go  to  bathe  and 
wash  their  hair;  and  after  two  days  more  they  search  for 
ten  fishes  and  one  tortoise  wherewith  to  give  a  feast,  which  is 
finished  with  siri  and  libations  of  palm-wine.  When  the  body 
is  quite  decomposed,  his  son,  or  one  of  the  family,  disinters 
the  skull  and  deposits  it  on  a  little  platform  in  his  house,  in 
the  gable  opposite  the  fire-place,  while  to  ward  off  evil  from 
himself  he  carries  about  with  him  the  atlas  and  axis  bones  of 
its  neck  in  his  luvu,  or  siri-holder.  The  bodies  of  those  who 
die  in  war  or  by  a  violent  death  are  buried,  and  not  placed  on 


CARVED   SUSPENSORY   CONTRIVANCES. 


rocks  or  on  a  platform,  where  only  such  as  die  naturally  are 
deposited  ;  and  if  his  head  has  been  captured  a  cocoa-nut  is 
placed  in  the  grave  to  represent  the  missing  member,  and  to 
deceive  and  satisfy  his  spirit. 

I  am  doubtful  if  these  rites  are  always  faithfully  performed, 
for  on  walking  along  the  shore  I  have  often  seen,  where  the 
coffin  has  fallen  to  pieces,  complete  crania  on  the  rocks  where 
the  body  had  been  deposited,  while  occipital  and  frontal  bones, 
mingling  with  jaws  of  pigs,  lay  quite  uncared  for  on  the  shore. 
The  dead  man's  spirit,  they  say,  goes  to  Nusa  Nitu,  or  Mara- 
matta — "  an  island  near  to  Ceram,"  which  the  navigator  passes 
fearful  and  vigilant,  believing  he  hears  strange  unsiren  sounds 
wafted  out  to  him  on  the  sea,  and  is  thankful  when  the  Home 
of  the  Spirits  has  sunk  down  in  the  horizon  behind  him. 


IN  TIMOB-LAUT.  325 


Northward  from  Kitabel,  our  village,  the  shore  of  the  channel 
was  dotted  with  detached  coral  boulders,  on  each  of  which 
several  corpses  reposed,  whence  the  most  fearful  stench  used 
especially  after  rain,  to  come  down  the  wind.  ^Yhether  this,  or 
the  Convolvulaceas  and  creeping  Papilionacese  that  flowered  in 
abundance  there,  was  the  attracting  cause  I  cannot  say ;  but 
certain  it  is  that  these  most  pestiferous  spots  were  our  richest 

butterfly  grounds.     There  A caught  the  new  Hiipohjmnas 

forhesii,  Terias  laratensis,  and  among  many  others  two  different 
species,  Colli ploea  visenda  and  Chanapa  sacerdos — which  it  was 
next  to  impossible  to  distinguish  on  the  wing  from  their 
mimicking  each  other — both  new  to  science,  while  tlie  h)vely 
Ftiloims  u-aUacii  frequented  in  crowds  the  tig-trees  that  over- 
hung this  foetid  shore. 


326  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDEPdNGS 


CHAPTER  y. 

SOJOURN  IN  TiMOR-LAUT — Continued. 

JlA\-Aon  nnd  superstitions — Yisit  to  Waitidal — Barter  for  a  skull — Send  my 
"liunters  to  the  northern  islands  of  the  group— Climate  of  Timor-laut — 
A  mauvais  quart  d'heure — Desi;^nation  of  the  grou]^) — Geographical  and 
geological  features. 

The  Tenimber  islanders  2-ecognise  some  supreme  existence 
Avhom  they  call  Duadilah,  of  whom  there  is  an  image  in  their 
houses,  over  the  principal  seat,  or  dodol-an,  facing  the  entrance, 
with  at  its  side  a  platter,  or  hilaan,  on  which  a  little  food  and 
drink  is  placed  whenever  they  themselves  eat.  From  their  luvus, 
among  the  other  heterogeneous  odds  and  ends  which  it  con- 
tains, they  can  generally  produce  one  small  image,  sometimes 
more.  Their  little  gods  vary  in  form  according  to  the  occupa- 
tion they  are  engaged  in ;  but  in  what  light  they  regard  them 
I  could  not  discover.  Singularly  enough,  one  of  these  images 
(on  the  left  hand,  p.  327)  lias  a  most  wonderful  resemblance  to 
one  brought  by  3[i-.  Wallace  from  Xew  Guinea,  and  figured 
in  his  '  Malay  Archipelago.'  That  they  have  a  firm  belief  in 
a  powerful,  chiefly  an  avenging,  spirit  I  feel  certain.  One 
day  a  stranger  to  the  village  had  his  loin-cloth  stolen.  After 
several  days  had  passed  without  his  recovering  it,  we  were 
surprised  to  see  a  boat  urgently  propelled  across  the  bay, 
from  which  the  owner  of  the  stolen  cloth  impulsively  sprang, 
brinf>-ino:  with  him  a  small  red  flag  on  the  end  of  a  slender 
pole.  This  he  erected  on  the  spot  whence  his  cloth  had  dis- 
appeared, and  after  looking  up  with  a  steady  and  jjenetrating 
eye  and  repeating  in  a  most  tragic  and  excited  manner  a  long 
imprecation  against  the  thief  and  the  village,  he  removed  the 
pole,  jumped  into  his  boat,  atid,  without  accosting  any  one, 
withdrew  in  the  same  urgent  manner  from  the  now  doomed 
villaire. 


7^  TIMOR-LAUT. 


827 


As  the  constant  dread  of  attack  by  the  Kaleobar  tribe  on  our 
village,  by  keeping  us  in  a  daily  state  of  suspense  and  anxiety, 
restricted  my  operations  to  a  narrow  area,  I  proposed  to  the 
native  Postholder  that  we  should  together  visit  that  village  to 


Dl'ADILAH. 


try  what  could  be  done  by  personal  intiiience  to  establish  peace. 
He,  however,  seemed  by  no  means  willing  to  accompany  me, 
excusing  himself  on  the  plea  that  the  people  of  Waitidal  the 
next  village,  wliicli  had  lost  more  than  our  own  by  Kaleobar 
raids,  would  oppose  a  peace.     I  therefore  determined  first  to 


328  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

sound  them  on  the  subject.  Accompanied  by  an  Orang  Kay  a 
or  chief,  from  Sera,  on  the  west  coast,  who  happened  to  be  in 
Ritabel  on  a  visit,  and  who  spoke  a  little  Malay,  I  proceeded 
to  Waitidal.  As  like  most  of  the  Tenimberese  villages,  it  was 
situated  on  a  flat  space  of  some  extent  on  the  summit  of  a  bluif 
which  stood  a  good  way  back  from  the  shore,  we  had  in  order  to 
reach  the  gateway  to  ascend  the  perpendicular  face  of  the  cliff 
by  a  steep  wooden  trap  stair,  which  I  observed  was  of  dark-red 
wood,  its  sides  elaborately  sculptured  with  alligators  and 
lizards,  and  surmounted  by  a  carved  head  on  each  side.  On 
entering  I  saluted  those  near  the  gate,  but  we  were  rather 
coldly  received.  As  we  proceeded  up  the  centre  of  the  vil- 
lage two  elderly  men,  who  were  evidently  intoxicated,  rushed 
at  us  with  poised  spears,  gesticulating  and  shouting  to  those 
around  to  oppose  us.  The  tumult  brought  out  the  Orang 
Kaya,  whose  approach  prevented  any  immediate  act  of  hos- 
tility, and  to  him  my  guide  explained  the  object  of  our 
visit.  Having  shaken  hands  with  us — a  sign  of  friendsliip — 
he,  accompanied  by  the  older  men,  conducted  us  to  his  house, 
through  the  door-hole  of  which  I  ascended  with  the  uneasy 
feeling  of  entering  a  trap.  My  proposals  being  fully  ex- 
plained to  them,  they  were  received  at  first  with  little  oppo- 
sition, till  my  intoxicated  friends  joined  the  circle.  One  was 
evidently  a  man  of  some  importance  in  the  vilhige,  and  at  once 
opposed  the  project  in  a  spirit  of  hostility,  which  gradually 
spread  to  the  others.  As  no  palaver  is  ever  conducted  without 
profuse  libations  raw  palm-spirit  distilled  by  themselves,  was 
passed  round  in  cocoanut-shell  cups,  and  I  was  expected  to 
keep  pace — no  slow  one — with  their  drinking.  As  the  spirit 
circulated  the  hostile  feeling  developed,  especially  as  the 
discussion  had  merged  into  another,  viz.,  that  I  should  be  per- 
suaded to  leave  Ritabel  and  dwell  in  Waitidal.  Tliey  found  I 
had  sold  much  cloth  and  knives  in  Ritabel^  but  had  brought 
none  over  to  them  ;  I  could  have  plenty  of  fowls  among  them  ; 
they  would  find  me  no  end  of  birds,  and  would  not  cheat  me  in 
the  way  the  Eitabel  people  were  doing.  To  this,  of  course,  I 
could  not  agree,  and  put  my  refusal  as  pleasantly  as  I  could. 
I  tried  to  bring  the  palaver  to  a  close  by  rising  to  leave  ; 
but  this  they  would  not  permit,  for  one  of  them  barred  my 
exit  by  sitting  on  guard  on  the  top  of  the  hatch.      I  shortly 


IN  TIMOR-LAUT.  329 


discovered  that  the  subject  of  their  excited  wrangling  was 
whether  I  should  be  permitted  to  leave  at  all.  My  guide,  after 
whispering  to  me  not  to  be  alarmed  and  adding  a  remark  I  did 
not  comprehend,  went  away,  luckily  leaving  me  door  open, 
intending,  as  I  imagined,  to  return  soon  ;  but  he  either  joined 
some  other  drinking  party  and  forgot  to  do  so,  or  purposely 
left  me  to  my  own  resources.  Pretending  to  be  quite  pleased 
to  prolong  my  visit,  I  presented  my  cup  for  more  spirit,  and 
as  successive  rounds  were  filled  my  companions  became  in- 
capable of  observing  that  I  did  not  drain  my  cup  till  I  had 
passed  its  contents  througli  the  floor,  and  was  imperceptibly 
nearing  the  now  open  trap-door.  I  took  the  first  opportunity 
of  diving  through  the  oritice,  and  with  a  bold  step  shaped  my 
course  for  the  stairway  at  the  top  of  the  rock,  where  I  felt  I 
could  dispute  my  departure  on  even  terms.  My  guide  appeared 
with  rather  a  hang-dog  look,  and  we  wasted  no  time  in  getting 
to  our  boat  and  rowino;  out  some  distance  from  the  shore. 

I  did  not  venture  a  second  time  amongst  them,  although 
the  villagers  of  Waitidal  in  order  to  secure  a  share  of  the  cloths 
and  other  goods  I  was  disposing  of,  came  over  constantly  to 
our  vilhige  in  twos  or  threes,  to  barter  provisions,  carved 
work,  and  ethnological  objects.  On  one  occasion  an  amusing 
incident  occurred  during  the  purchase  from  a  Waitidal  man  of 
a  cranium.  He  had  brought  me,  with  the  usual  secrecy,  a  fine 
skull,  but  fitted  with  a  lower  jaw  which  I  saw  did  not  belong  to  it. 
I  pointed  out  the  fact,  and  urged  him  to  make  a  search  for  the 
corresponding  bone.  After  arguing  the  point  a  long  time  with- 
out effect,  he  thought  he  had  settled  matters  by  saying,  "  There 
is  really  no  mistake  ;  I  remember  quite  well  when  my  father 
was  alive  he  had  just  this  sort  of  under  jaw  !  "  Finding  it  was 
no  good  and  that  I  would  not  trade,  he  went  his  way  ;  but  in  a 
few  hours  he  came  back  with  a  beaming  face — he  had  found 
his  father's  lower  jaw\  His  father's  brother  had  been  laid  down 
on  the  same  stone,  hence  the  mistake.  I  traded  to  his  dutiful 
son's  satisfaction,  who,  before  giving  me  possession,  inserted  a 
piece  of  pinang  nut  between  its  teeth,  and  in  a  most  reveren- 
tial manner  paid  his  last  invocation  to  the  Head  of  his  line. 
That  sun's  welfare  is  regulated  now  from  the  Mammalian 
Gallery  of  the  British  jMuseum  ! 

The'  Postholder,   backed   by  the   action   of  the   Waitidal 


330  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

people,  would  not  venture  to  Kaleobar,  and  I  did  not  consider 
it  prudent  to  go  alone.  We  had  therefore  to  bear  with 
equanimity  what  could  not  be  remedied  ;  but  it  ims  galling 
to  be  in  a  new  and  unknown  country  and  be  tied  to  a  few  acres 
of  it,  without  being  able  to  cross  the  mainland  to  the  west 
coast,  or  to  penetrate  farther  south  from  want  of  guides,  and 
especially  of  carriers  to  accompany  me  ;  for,  contrary  to  the 
general  statement  that  there  exists  a  "black  frizzly-headed 
savage  people  in  the  interior,"  *  there  are  absolutely  no  in- 
habitants in  the  interior  of  Timor-laut.  Tillages  occur  pretty 
thickly  along  the  coasts,  except  on  the  northern  portion, 
where  there  does  not  apj^ear  to  be  any  population  at  all. 

As  the  Postholder  was  about  to  pay  a  visit  to  the  outlying 
islands  of  Maru  and  Molu,  which  were  inhabited  by  a  very 
friendly  people,  I  decided  to  send  with  him  my  two  men — as  I 
dared  not  myself  leave  my  Herbarium  to  the  care  of  a  native, 
and  my  stores  and  collections  unguarded — to  collect  and  bring 
me  all  the  information  they  could  on  the  points  I  instructed 
them  on,  while  I  continued  my  ojierations  on  the  still  fruitful 
region  to  which  I  had  access. 

The  climate  of  Timor-laut  is  one  of  extreme  insalubrity. 
For  the  first  eighteen  to  twenty  days  none  of  my  company 
suffered  in  the  least ;  but  that  period  seemed  to  be  with  us  all 
the  limit  of  resistance  to  the  deleterious  miasma.  The  fever, 
the  result  in  great  part  of  the  bad  water  (there  being  no 
streams  in  the  district),  and  of  the  strong  south-east  winds 
that  then  supervened  was  one  of  great  severity.  Coming  on 
with   sickness,    the    temperature    rose    rapidly   to    103'-105° 

accompanied    with    strong    delirium,  which  in  A 's   case 

continued  for  nearly  three  weeks  with  but  short  intervals  of 
release.  During  the  continuance  of  the  fever — which  happily 
rarely  attacked  us  both  on  the  same  day,  a  circumstance  that 
enabled  us  to  aid  each  other — the  two  most  effectual  remedies 
were,  besides  quinine,  salicilate  of  soda  and  chloroform,  the 
latter  especially  very  rapidly  lowering  the  temperature  and 
inducing  perspiration. 

Neither   of  us  will  likely  ever   forget  our  fever-attack  of 

August  27th.    A ,  wretchedly  weak  and  reduced  from  weeks 

of  almost  continuous  fever,  was  assisting  me  to  get  up  after  a 
*  Stanford's  Compendium,  Australasia,  by  A.  R.  "Wallace. 


7.V   TIMOR-LAUT.  331 


bad  day  of  the  same  about  the  hour  the  village  Avas  goino-  to 
rest  for  the  night.  A  terrific  shot  from  a  native  gun — alwavs 
charged  to  the  very  muzzle — startled  the  whole  communitv. 
Shouts  of  "Ivaleobar"  resounded  everywhere.  Like  a  dis- 
turbed ant's-nest  the  villagers,  every  man  with  his  arrow  on 
the  string  or  a  sheaf  of  javelins  in  his  hand,  one  of  them  ready 
j)oised,  clustered  out  round  the  barricades  shouting  and  ges- 
ticulating. We  were  alone — the  Postholder  and  our  men  not 
having  returned  from  Molu — except  for  one  servant,  use- 
less in  such  a  case.  After  barricadino:  the  door  and  slidinir 
an  explosive  shell  into  my  Martini,  with  a  cheery  word  to 
my  companion  who  held  ready  a  handful  of  cartridges,  and  a 
hasty  look  to  see  if  the  boat  which,  unknown  to  her,  I  had 
purchased  expressly  for  perhaps  such  an  emergency  was  still 
riding  by  its  line  to  the  pillar  of  the  house,  to  serve  as  a  last 
means  of  escape,  I  stood  ready  at  the  open  window  for  what 
might  follow.  A  sudden  silence  of  the  shouting  supervened,  a 
period  of  acute  suspense  to  us,  whose  window  did  not  look  out 
on  the  barricades,  and  then  the  chief's  son  came  to  tell  us 
that  the  shot  was  an  accidental  dischar2:e  of  a  late-returnine: 
villager's  gun.  It  was  a  mauvais  quart  dlieure,  short  but 
terribly  trying,  which  showed  how  tense  was  the  nervous  ex- 
pectancy under  which  the  whole  village  was  living.  The 
eaction  of  relief  was  nearly  as  difficult  to  endure  as  the 
suspense  had  been.  ^^ 

Besides  fever,  which  affected  the  natives  also,  few  diseases 
existed  on  the  islands.  With  the  exception  of  that  curious 
fungoid  skin  disease  so  common  among  the  Papuan  races,  of  a 
little  scrofula,  and,  among  the  old  people,  rheumatic  affections 
of  the  hands  and  limbs,  the  people  were  very  healthy. 

Among  other  interesting  facts,  I  learned  from  the  inhabi- 
tants that  the  name  of  Timor-laut  Avas  quite  unknown  to 
them.  This  is  a  Malay  appellation,  2)robably  given  by  the 
Macassar  traders,  who,  falling  on  a  large  island  farther  in  the 
sea  than  the  one  they  best  knew  as  the  Easterly  isle — which 
the  name  Timor  signifies — designated  this,  l)y  Timor-Jaut  or 
the  Eastern  Island  in  the  Sea.  Another  derivation  of  the  name 
has  been  given  that  the  appellation  of  the  group  is  not  Timor- 
Jaut  but  Timorlao,  in  which  the  termination  lao  means  far, 
and  that,  therefore,  their  designation  signifies  the  Far-east 


332  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINOS 

Islands.  I  could  not  discover  that  they  gave  any  general 
name  to  the  whole  group ;  but  they  invariably  designated  the 
mainland  of  the  northern  of  the  two  larger  islands  by  the 
name  Yamdena,  while  they  spoke  of  the  southern  portion 
as  Selaru,  which,  in  their  language,  is  the  word  for  Indian 
corn. 

In  examining  the  Tenimber  islands,  one  is  struck  with  the 
resemblance  that  exists  between  them  and  the  Aru  group,  in 
the  curious  way  in  which  both  are  cut  up  by  narrow  channels. 
"Some  of  the  southern  islands  of  Aru  (I  quote  from  the 
narrative  of  the  voyage  of  the  Dutch  corvette  Triton  in  1828)  are 
of  considerable  extent,  but  those  to  the  north,  lying  close  to 
the  edge  of  the  bank,  are  rarely  more  than  five  or  six  miles  in 
circumference.  The  land  is  low,  being  only  a  few  feet  above 
the  level  of  the  sea  except  in  spots  where  patches  of  rock  rise 
to  the  height  of  twenty  feet,  but  the  lofty  trees  which  cover 
the  face  of  the  country  give  it  the  aj)pearance  of  being  much 
more  elevated." 

The  island  of  Larat  is  separated  from  the  mainland  by  a 
narrow  strait,  which  I  have  designated  with  the  honoured  name 
of  the  author  of  the  '  Malay  Archipelago ' — Wallace  Channel, 
which  forms  a  fairly  good  harbour  at  its  northern  entrance, 
but  shallows  away  towards  the  south  end  so  much  that  only 
small  boats  can  come  through  it  at  low  tide,  and  in  fact,  to 
the  south  of  Ritabel  village  the  bottom  can  be  reached  all 
the  way  across,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  yards,  by  a  poling- 
rod. 

Between  Larat  and  Vordate  there  is,  in  calm  weather,  a 
safe  channel,  yet  on  Captain  Stanley's  authority  it  is  quite 
shoal.  The  sea  to  the  northward;,  again,  is  very  shallow,  only 
narrow  passages  separating  the  islands  of  Frienun,  Maru,  and 
Molu,  as  I  gather  from  my  hunters  (whose  information  I 
believe  to  be  correct)  whom  I  sent  there  for  a  few  weeks  to 
collect,  and  gather  information. 

The  lowness  also  of  the  country  in  our  immediate  neigh- 
bourhood struck  me  much.  I  could  see  on  Larat  and  on  the 
mainland,  no  ground  rising  at  the  most  over  a  hundred  feet 
or  so,  for  standing  on  the  shore  I  could  look  right  across  the 
main  island,  and  see  the  greater  part  of  the  only  height 
worthy  of  the  name  of  mountain,  within  the  range  of  vision. 


7.V   TJMOR-LAUT. 


the  Peak  of  Laibobar.  This  mountain  symmetrically  conical 
in  form,  rises  out  of  the  sea  on  an  islet  on  the  west  coast,  and 
is,  judging  by  the  eye,  somewhere  about  2000  feet  in  height. 
I  have  little  doubt  that  it  will  be  found  to  be  an  extinct  or 
dormant  crater.  I  was  shown  by  the  natives  a  piece  of 
pumice  stone,  used  by  them  to  polish  their  spearheads,  which 
they  say  floats  into  their  bay  after  northerly  and  westerly 
winds.  Possibly  some  of  it  may  be  washed  into  the  sea  off 
the  slopes  of  this  mountain  during  the  rainy  season.  Further 
experience  showed  me  that  the  whole  of  the  mainland  of 
Yamdena,  as  far  as  my  excursions  extended,  was  also  of  coral, 
which  formed  precipitous  cliffs  nearly  all  round  the  islands, 
in  some  places  as  much  as  sixty  to  eighty  feet  in  height ;  but 
about  Egeron  Strait  the  coast  is  said  to  rise  about  four 
hundred  feet. 

I  was  early  struck  with  the  fact  tbat  everywhere  the  island 
was  composed  of  coral,  and  that  the  vegetation  grew  on  the 
scantiest  possible  soil.  No  rock  of  a  sedimentary  or  granitoid 
character  could  I  detect  anywhere  on  the  islet  of  Larat.  I 
had  at  first  thought  that  a  stratified-like  mass  near  our  resi- 
dence had  that  character,  but  on  closer  examination  it  turns 
out  to  be  entirely  non-arenaceous. 

There  are  no  mountains  in  the  islands,  and  no  fresh  water 
streams.  All  our  so-called  fresh  water  Avas  skimmed  off  the 
surface  of  holes  made  in  the  coral,  and  was  brackish  and  un- 
palatable. On  the  mainland,  however,  I  noticed  at  points 
slightly  above  high-water  mark  fresher  water  than  that  found 
in  Larat,  flowing,  it  seemed,  from  springs. 

The  whole  of  the  northern  portion  of  the  islands,  therefore, 
appears  to  have  been  recently  elevated  or  is  perhaps  still 
beino;  so,  after  a  lon^:  submersion  below  the  sea. 

The  cliffs  are  ail  of  coral,  and  the  shore  at   low   tide   is 
formed  of  the  stumps  of  elevated   branched   corals,  and    in 
many  places  a  flat  floor  of  hard  concrete  like  what  I  saw  in 
the  Keelinff  atoll 
23 


334  A   NATUBALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


CHAPTER  VI. 

SOJOUEX  IX  TiMOE-LAUT — Continued. 

Natural  histoiy — Flora — Disaster  to  Herbarium — Fauna — Mimicking  birds 
— Insects — Fevef  and  failure  of  supplies — Anxious  waiting  for  steamer 
— Arrival  of  SS.  Amboina — Leave  Timor-laut  for  Amboina, 

Of  the  natural  history  of  Timor-laut,  about  which  almost 
nothing  was  known  before  our  visit,  I  have  been  able,  to  a 
considerable  extent,  to  fill  up  the  blanks  in  our  knowledge. 

In  some  places  the  low  shrubby  under-forest  is  so  dense  as 
to  be  almost  impenetrable  on  account  of  its  spiny  character, 
while  in  other  parts  the  woods  are  open  below.  The  trees  were, 
some  of  them,  of  considerable  height,  but  of  no  great  thick- 
ness, and  but  sparsely  distributed.  The  largest  I  observed 
were  Sterculias  and  fig-trees  of  the  genus  TJrostigma.  The 
former  are  common  and,  in  throwing  out  their  flowers  in 
advance  of  their  foliage,  their  crowns  form  enormous  bright 
scarlet  bosses  and  are  the  most  characteristic  objects  in  the 
landscape.  Doubtless  they  occur  all  along  the  coast,  and  very 
likely  suggested  the  term  "  brilliant  "  used  by  Captain  Stanley 
in  his  description,  already  quoted,  of  the  vegetation  about 
Oliliet.  This  tree  {Stercidia  fcetida)  is  probably  a  near 
relative  of,  if  it  is  not  identical  with,  the  Fire-tree  of  Aus- 
tralia, which  has  attracted  so  much  admiration  there.  Legumi- 
nous trees  and  shrubs  were  very  abundantly  represented ;  and 
with  myrtles,  pandans,  palms,  euphorbias,  Malvacese,  figs, 
and  Apocynaceous  trees,  formed  the  bulk  of  the  vegetation. 
Under  these  a  green  carpet  of  Commelyna  {C.  nudijiora) 
hides  the  rough  and  knobbly  coral.  Casuarinas  and  Cycads, 
which,  both  in  Timor  and  Aru,  form  so  striking  a  feature  of 
the  vegetation,  and  phyllode-bearing  Acacias  with  the  Euca- 
lyptus and  Melaleuca,  which  characterise  the  Australian  flora, 
were  singularly  conspicious  by  their  absence  in  the  districts 


7.V   TIMOE-LAUT.  335 


over  which  my  operations  extended.  Artocarpus  incisa,  not  the 
true  bread-fruit,  which  is  a  seedless  variety,  but  the  species 
more  common  in  the  Moluccas,  was  found  in  considerable  abun- 
dance. In  its  broad  features,  as  far  as  we  yet  know,  the  plants 
of  the  Tenimber  Island  belong  to  a  typically  coral  island  flora. 
But  among  them  are  two  most  interesting  species  belonging  to 
monotypic  genera  hitherto  represented,  as  Sir  Joseph  Hooker 
has  pointed  out,  only  by  single  specimens — the  one  from  the 
far  separated  islands  of  New  Caledonia,  and  the  other  from 
West  Australia.  Growing  in  the  coral  crevices,  often  within 
the  splash  of  the  waves,  I  gathered  a  most  lovely  orchid,  Den- 
drohiiim  plialoenopsis,  previously  known  only  from  Queensland 
in  Australia,  while  open  to  the  wash  of  the  Arafura  Sea  out- 
side Cape  Yatusianga,  the  trees  were  covered  with  Polypodia- 
ceous  ferns  and  orchids  of  the  species  Dendrobium  antennatum, 
while  tlie  whole  shore  was  strewed  with  seeds  of  many  kinds. 

The  Herbarium  on  which  our  present  knowledge  of  the 
flora  is  based  is  very  small ;  my  own  would  have  been  much 
larger  but  for  an  unfortunate  fire  in  the  drying-house  in  which 
it  was  being  prepared,  which  consumed  the  greater  portion  of 
my  botanical  collection — a  heart-breaking  episode  which  I 
give  in  my  companion's  words  : — 

"  September  {)th.     This  forenoon,  when  quite  alone,  H 

and  the  hunters  having  gone  to  the  opposite  shore  for  the  day, 
and  Kobes  to  the  well  a  mile  off,  while  I  was  sitting  in  that 
miserable,  restless  condition  which  succeeds  a  fever  attack,  a 
longing  seized  me  to  look  out  of  the  door,  for  I  had  for  many 
days  been  unable  to  leave  my  sleei)ing  apartment.  Fortunate 
impulse  !  Kobes  had  piled  half  a  dozen  great  logs  on  the  fire 
of  the  drying-house  (an  erection  like  our  dwelling,  and  all  the 
Tenimber  tenements,  of  bamboo  and  atap  thatch,  now,  at  the 
close  of  the  dry  season,  very  imflammable)  and  left  them  to 
the  whims  of  a  strong  breeze,  which,  at  the  moment  I  looked, 
had  just  fanned  the  fire  into  fierce  flames.  I  sped  into  the 
village  for  help,  but  met  the  Postholder  with  his  men  running 
towards  me,  attracted  by  the  rushing  noise  of  the  flames.  With- 
out a  moment's  delay  some  of  them  cut  great  palm  branches 
to  interpose  between  the  burning  house  and  the  overnanging 
eaves  of  our  dwelling,  others  tore  apart  the  framework,  scattered 
the  bundles  of  plants,  and  beat  the  flames  with  green  branches, 


336  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

while  the  Tenimber  natives  poured  on  water  which  they  carried 
in  gonrds  and  bamboos  from  the  sea  close  by.  With  what 
breathless  anxiety  I  watched  the  effect  of  each  gust  of  wind, 
for  the  thatch  of  our  house — in  which  were  stored  several  tins 
of  petroleum  and  of  spirits  of  wine,  and  a  quantity  of  gun- 
powder— was  already  scorched.  Had  it  caught,  nothing  could 
have  saved  the  whole  village,  nor  us  from  the  vengeance  of  the 
people.  At  last  the  flames  were  got  under,  and  I  had  time  to 
realise  that  the  few  charred  and  sodden  bundles  before  me  was 
all  that  remained  of  more  than  500  of  the  first  gathered 
specimens  of  the  flora  of  Tenimber  collected  at  such  risk  and 
pains.  I  could  not  boar  to  stand  on  the  shore,  as  usual,  to 
welcome  the  home-coming  boat,  but  long  ere  it  touched,  the 
ruined  drying-house  had  told  them  the  disheartening  news  of 
the  disaster  that  had  happened." 

If  we  except  birds,  animal  life  I  found  to  be  but  poorly 
represented.  Besides  a  Cusctis,  a  genus  of  Marsupials  common 
to  the  Moluccas  and  new  Guinea,  and  doubtfully  a  wild  pig, 
I  saw  no  indigenous  mammalian  animals — with  one  reserA'a- 
tion.  On  the  mainland  we  found  large  herds  of  buffaloes 
living  in  a  Avild  state,  being  indigenous  as  far  as  native 
tradition  could  enlighten  us,  for  they  believe  that  they  came 
up  out  of  the  earth.  "When,  and  by  what  means  they  arrived 
is  unknown ;  but  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  they  have 
been  brought  by  the  accident  of  shipwreck,  or  by  design. 
They  must  feed  on  the  Commehjna,  and  on  the  leaves  of  low 
shrubs,  for  there  is  no  grass  to  be  found  ;  and  they  must  often, 
I  feel  sure,  be  pressed  for  water  to  drink  in  the  dry  season. 

No  kangaroos  were  seen  or  heard  of  in  any  of  the  islands, 
but  a  small  species  of  mouse-like  mammal,  of  which  I  was 
unable  to  catch  a  specimen,  may  be  a  Ferameles  or  jumjjing- 
mouse.  Of  Rodents  the  common  rat  was — too  abundant.  No 
species  of  Sciuridse  Avere  observed.  Of  Cheiroptera  there  Avere 
scA^eral  small  species,  besides  a  common  Pteropus  or  "  Flying 
Fox."  There  are  no  deer.  One  species  of  Sirenian,  probably 
the  Halicore  aiistralis,  frequents  the  shore,  and  is  hunted  by 
the  natiA'es  for  its  iA^ories  from  Avhich  they  make  earrings. 
One  frog  Avas  collected,  Avhile  snakes  and  lizards  Avere  found 
in  considerable  numbers,  one  of  each  being  a  species  new  to 
science.      AVhile,  out  of  sixty  species  of  birds,  I  brought  no 


machik's  gkotjnd-thrush  {Geocichla  machiki,  forbes). 


7^   TIMOR-LAUT.  337 


fewer  than  twenty  forms,  and  of  the  butterflies  and  insects 
nearly  one-half,  that  were  undescribed  before. 

One  of  the  objects  of  my  visit  was  to  determine  to  what 
zoo-geographical  province  Timor-laut  belonged.  Lying  as 
it  does  at  no  great  distance  from  Aru  and  New  Guinea  on 
the  east,  from  Australia  to  the  southward,  and  from  Timor 
to  the  west,  it  was  an  interesting  question  which  of  them 
had  behaved  most  bountifully  by  it.  It  is  surrounded  by  a 
very  deep  sea,  deeper,  so  the  captain  of  one  of  the  Dutch 
men-of-war  surveying  in  that  region  just  before  my  return  to 
Europe  informed  me,  than  is  represented  in  most  of  the  charts. 
Looking  to  the  birds  peculiar  to  the  group,  all  belong  to 
Papuan  genera  (and  nearly  allied  to  known  Papuan  species) 
with  the  exception  of  a  few  species,  whi^h  have  their  nearest 
representatives  in  Timor  or  in  Australia.  The  insects,  on  the 
other  hand,  as  collected  by  me,  show  a  great  j^rejjonderance  of 
Timor  over  Aru  or  new  Guinea  forms,  with  a  slight  Australian 
tinge.  The  presence  of  snakes  and  frogs  is  also  of  great 
interest — a  new  species  of  the  former  (Simotes  forhesi  of 
Boulenger)  being  remarkable  as  the  only  one  of  the  genus 
known  to  exist  east  of  Java — when  we  consider  its  deep 
surrounding  sea  and  all  the  indications  that  the  Tenimber 
group,  which  is  entirely  of  coral  formation,  has  been  elevated, 
after  a  long  subsidence  above  the  surface  of  the  sea. 

The  most  interesting  discoveries  among  the  birds  were  a 
species  of  ground-thrush  {Geocichla  machiki),  figured  on  the 
opposite  page  ;  and  the  finding  in  Timor-laut  of  a  new  species  of 
Honey-eater  (Philemon  Umorlaoensis),  (the  first  bird  to  attract 
our  attention  after  landing),  mimicked  by  a  new  species  of 
Oriole  (Oriolus  decijnens).  For  some  time  I  was  quite  puzzled 
by  the  difterence  of  behaviour  of  certain  individuals  in  flocks 
of  these  birds  on  the  trees.  Only  after  the  closest  comparison 
of  the  dead  birds  in  my  hand  was  the  enigma  solved  by  my 
perceiving  that  the  birds  were  distinct  species,  of  widely 
removed  families,  and  I  learned  later  that  I  had  obtained 
new  examples  of  that  most  curious  case  of  mimicry  first 
detected  (among  birds)  by  Mr.  Wallace,  where  an  Oriole  con- 
stantly derives  protection  from  its  foes  by  acquiring  tlu;  dress 
of  a  bird  always  of  the  same  powerful  and  gregarious  Honey- 
eaters.     In  the  Island   of  Burn   an  Oriole  accompanies  and 


338  A   NATUBALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

copies  a  Philemon ;  in  Ceram  and  in  Timor  also,  and  now  in 
Timor-laut  yet  another — the  model  and  the  copy— both  of 
them  distinct  in  each  of  the  islands.  When  my  collection  was 
laid  out  for  description  by  Dr.  Sclater,  the  Oriole  and  the 
Honey-eater's  dress  were  so  strikingly  similar,  that  the  sharp 
eye  of  that  distinguished  Ornithologist  was  deceived,  and  the 
tsvo  birds  were  described  by  him  as  the  same  species.  Besides 
these,  another  lovely  new  species  of  the  same  family  (sec 
Frontispiece)  of  the  H(mey-eaters,  belonging  to  the  genus 
Myzomela,  which  has  been  named  after  the  devoted  companion 
of  my  travels  {Myzomela  annabellie)  was  obtained  ;  but  though 
it  flitted  about  at  the  flowers  of  the  cocoanut  palms,  and  of 
an  Apocynaceous  shrub  just  at  our  door,  I  could  not  succeed 
in  shooting  a  single  individual,  till  on  the  mainland  I  at  last 
secured  the  one  specimen  that  graced  my  collection. 

On  the  20th  of  September  the  steamer  was  due  to  return  ; 
but  for  a  week  we  had  been  anxiously  counting  the  days,  for 
we  had  been  obliged,  in  order  to  eke  out  our  supplies,  to  fall 
back  on  roasted  heads  of  Indian  corn,  which  sorely  tried  our 
teeth.  We  could  purchase  fowls  on  rare  occasions  only,  as  our 
barter  articles  suiting  the  tastes  of  the  natives  were  all  gone — 
it  is  a  characteristic  of  the  race,  as  I  have  said,  to  give  away 
nothing,  and  to  part  with  their  possessions  only  for  what  they 
want  at  the  moment,  no  matter  if  something  of  many  times 
the  value  be  offered  them.  Our  stock  of  febrifuges,  so  often  in 
demand,  and  of  tea  and  coffee,  Avas  exhausted,  and  above  all 
we  were  sadly  reduced  by  the  pernicious  fever  which  was  diffi- 
cult to  combat  without  luxuries  we  cauld  not  command. 
Boats  from  Vordate  brought  in  the  news  that  the  threatened 
Kaleobir  attack  was  really  about  to  be  made,  tidings  which  to 
our  villagers  seemed  confirmed  by  the  simultaneous  recogni- 
tion of  the  great  comet  of  1882  in  our  northern  sky.  Extra 
guards  were  placed,  who  danced,  as  is  their  custom  on  such 
like  occasions,  round  the  village  god  night  and  day  with  a 
hideous  howling  chant  accompanied  by  beating  of  drums 
which  was  equally  incessant,  and  to  our  fever-strained  nerves 
execrable  and  unbearable  during  the  day,  but  perfectly 
maddening  in  the  night.  How  we  longed  and  looked  for  the 
steamer  ! 

On  the  28th,  when  our   larder  was  absolutely  empty,  the 


IX   TIMOR-LAUT.  339 


sharp  eyes  of  the  natives  descried  at  break  of  day  a  thin  lino 
of  smoke  on  the  horizon,  and  before  eight  o'clock  the  Amhouia 
had  steamed  slowly  in,  and,  with  a  rattle  pleasant  to  our  ears, 
dropped  her  anchor  a  few  yards  from  our  door.  A  couple  of 
hours  later,  Avith  our  precious  collections  safely  on  board,  we 
ourselves  stood  watching  from  the  deck  the  crowd  of  struggling 
boats  heaving  in  the  troubled  water  of  our  screw  putting  back 
to  the  shore,  and  on  our  swarthy  and  most  interesting  friends 
irazine:  after  us  from  the  strand,  till  our  little  home — the 
centre  round  which,  for  the  rest  of  our  lives,  will  cluster  the 
reminiscences  of  most  strange  and  utterly  uncommunicable 
thoughts  and  sensations — sank  down  behind  our  horizon, 
happy  that  some  of  the  eager  hopes  with  which  we  had  landed 
amongst  them  a  few  months  before  had  been  gratified,  yet  feeling 
how  much  there  was  left  undone  of  what  we  had  wished  to 
accomplish ;  and  as  the  verdure-clad  shores  faded  from  our 
view  the  recollection  of  our  dangers  and  anxieties,  which  had 
been  very  real,  vanished  like  an  evil  dream,  while  the  intense 
pleasure — whose  solidity  only  a  naturalist  can  really  appreciate 
— that  we  had  derived  from  our  wanderino-s  amid  a  strano^e 
people,  and  a  perfectly  new  fauna  and  flora,  was  henceforth 
alone  to  fill  the  retrospect  of  our  sojourn  among  the  Tenimber 
Islands. 

Turning  to  our  letters  and  newspapers  we  realised  how 
isolated  had  been  our  situation,  when  we  found  that  England 
had  begun  and  fought  out  the  Egyptian  war,  and  that  we  were 
out  in  our  reckoning  both  of  the  day  of  the  week  and  of  the 
day  of  the  month. 

Heversing  the  route  we  had  taken  in  June,  we  arrived  on 
the  7th  of  October  in  Amboina,  where  we  received  a  most 
cordial  welcome  from  Dr.  and  Madame  ]\rachik,  now-  installed 
in  a  commodious  and  pleasantly  situated  house  looking  out  on 
the  Bay,  and  in  which  there  was  at  my  disposal  delightful 
accommodation  for  rearranging  and  preparing  my  collections 
for  despatcli  to  Europe. 

I  should  be  very  unmindful  if  I  did  not  record  here  the 
more  than  friendly  attention  and  care  bestowed  on  us  by  both 
our  hosts,  during  tlio  many  days  of  Tenimber  fever — more 
violently  exhibited  in  Amboina  than  in  Larat — that  we  had  to 
endure  under  their  roof. 


340  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


APPENDIX  TO  PART  IV 


I.  On  the  Cranial  Characters  of  the  Natives  of  Timok-laut.  By  J.  G. 
Garson,  M.D.,  F.Z.S. ;  Mcmb.  Authrop.  Inst. ;  Anat.  Assist.  Eoyal 
College  of  Surgeons;  Lecturer  on  Comparative  Anatomy,  Charing 
Cross  Hospital. 

In  the  following  commtinication  I  intend  to  direct  attention  to  the 
characters  presented  by  a  series  of  skulls  from  Timor-laut,  a  group  of 
small  islands  situated  between  New  Guinea  and  Australia,  collected  and 
brought  home  by  Mr.  H.  0.  Forbes.  Before  doing  so,  it  will  be  well  to 
recapitulate  briefly  the  chief  characters  of  the  inbabitants  of  the  island 
observed  by  Mr.  Forbes,  and  described  by  him  in  a  paper  read  last 
session  before  tliis  institute,  and  published  in  the  Journal  (vol.  xiii., 
\).  8,  et  scrj.)." 

*    *  *  '!•  *  *  * 

The  osteological  remains  now  to  be  described  were  obtained  from  the 
island  of  Larat,  and  consi-st  of  a  scries  of  eleven  skulls  and  crania.  Of 
these,  nine  are  adult,  one  that  of  a  young  man  of  about  twenty  years  of 
age,  and  one  that  of  a  child. 

Four  of  the  skulls  appear  to  be  those  of  males,  and  six  those  of  women. 
The  skull  of  the  child  is  not  sufficiently  developed  to  indicate  its  sex. 
The  male  skulls  arc  all  of  a  round  form — broad  in  proportion  to  the 
antero-posterior  length,  and  resemble  one  another  in  general  appearance. 
Of  the  females,  tive  correspond  in  form  to  the  male  skulls,  in  being  short 
and  broad,  but  the  sixth  differs  markedly  from  the  others,  in  being 
narrow  antero-posteriorly  in  proportion  to  its  breadth.  The  form  of  the 
child's  cranium  resembles  closely  that  of  this  last  skull.  The  cranium  of 
the  child  has  been  excluded  from  the  various  measurements  and  averages 
given  in  the  subjoined  table,  now  to  be  discussed,  but  that  of  the  young 
man  is  included,  as  I  was  unwilling  to  diminish  the  series  by  rejecting 
it,  especially  as  it  seems  to  have  attained  its  full  development,  except  in 
a  few  respects  which  will  be  noted ;  though  I  am  aware  that  it  is  contrary 
to  custom  to  include  any  skull  in  which  the  basilar  suture  is  not  united. 
The  male  and  female  round  skulls  are  separated  from  one  another,  and 
the  latter  are  grouped  apart  from  the  long  narrow  female  skull,  many  of 
the  characters  of  which  are  entirely  different  from  those  of  the  other 
females. 

Capacity. — The  avera-re  cranial  capacity  of  the  four  male  skulls 
measured  with  shot  according  to  Broca's  method,  is  1607  cc,  or  47  cc. 

*  As  this  has  been  fully  done  in  the  foregoing  pages,  it  is  unnecessary  to 
recapitulate  them  here ;  consequently,  this  paragraph  is  omitted  from  this 
reprint  of  Dr.  Garson's  valuable  paper. — H.  0.  F. 


IN  TIMOR-LAUT.  341 


more  than  that  of  male  European  skulls,  the  average  capacity  of  317  of 
which  Topinard  found  to  be  1560  cc.  That  of  the  round-headed  females 
is  1,311  cc,  or  64  cc.  less  than  European  female  skulls,  232  of  -which, 
measured  by  Topinard,  averaged  1,375  cc.  While  the  capacity,  therefore, 
of  the  male  skulls  from  Timor-laut  is,  on  an  average,  larger  than  those 
of  European,  that  of  the  females  is  less  than  in  Europeans  of  the  same  sex. 
The  difference  in  capacity  between  males  and  females  of  Timor-laut  is  296 
cc. ;  that  between  Europeans  is  1S5  cc.  The  individual  range  of 
capacity  is  considerable,  one  of  the  male  skulls  (No.  10)  being  no  less 
than  220  cc.  smaller  than  any  of  the  others.  The  largest  capaeitv,  that 
of  No.  4,  is  1,780  cc,  and  the  smallest  1,395  cc,  that  of  No.  10.  in  the 
females  the  range  is  from  1,405  to  1,240  cc  The  difference,  then,  between 
the  largest  and  smallest  male  skulls  is  385  cc,  and  155  cc  between  those 
of  females.     The  long-headed  female  has  a  cai:)acity  of  1,400  cc 

Ceph'iJlc  Index. — In  the  round  skulls  the  relative  proportion  of  the 
breadth  to  the  length  varies  little  in  the  two  sexes ;  the  cephalic  index 
of  the  males  averaging  88'1  and  of  the  females  860.  Eeference  to  the 
table  will  show  that  the  lower  index  of  the  females  is  chiefly  caused  by 
the  almost  undeformed  cranium.  No.  2,  which  has  an  index  of  only  78'y. 
All  these  skulls  belong  to  Broca's  class  of  true  brachycephalic  (skulls  in 
which  tlie  cephalic  index  is  over  83'33)  except  No.  2,  which  is  sub- 
brachycephalic  (between  80"01  and  83'33),  on  account  of  its  Avidth  being 
less  than,  while  the  length  is  the  same  as  that  of  the  others.  The  long 
narrow  female  skull  has  an  index  of  71T,  and  belongs,  therefore,  to  Broca's 
true  dolichocephalic  group. 

Heiyht  Index. — This  averages  about  2-  higher  in  the  male  brachycephalic 
skulls  than  in  the  corresponding  females,  being  80-6  in  the  former, 
and  824  in  the  latter.  The  cephalic  index  of  the  males  we  found 
was  higher  by  the  same  amount  than  that  of  the  females.  In  the 
dolichocephalic  female  the  right  index  is  much  lower  tlian  in  the 
brachycephalic  skulls  of  the  same  sex,  a  condition  which  the  late 
Professor  Eolleston  found  usi;ally  to  obtain.  The  height  of  the  skulls  is  in 
all  instances  less  than  the  breadth,  except  in  the  female  No.  2.  The 
indices  of  height  and  breadth  above  given  cannot  be  taken  as  strictly 
accurate,  owing  to  the  artificial  flattening  of  the  posterior  or  postero- 
lateral portion  of  most  of  the  crania,  but  are  as  nearly  accuiate  as  cir- 
cumstances will  admit,  and  general  deductions  may  probably  be  relied 
upon. 

The  height  in  proportion  to  the  breadth  (the  latter  being  taken  as  100) 
is  in  the  males  as  91-2,  and  in  the  females  as  95'6  to  100. 

(Jircumferencp. — The  horizontal  circumference  of  the  brachycephalic 
skulls  averages  in  the  males  507  ram.,  that  of  the  females  475  mm.,  while 
the  transverse  vertical  circumference  of  the  former  is  456  mm.,  and  of  the 
latter  424'6  mm.  The  total  longitudinal  circumference  averages  in  the 
males  5()r2  mm.,  and  in  the  females  473  mm.  In  each  of  the  three 
circumference  measurements,  therefore,  the  female  skulls  are  on  an 
average  about  31  mm.  smaller  than  the  males.  The  dolichocephalic 
female  shows  considerable  difterences  in  the  various  circumferences  from 
the  i^revious  skulls  of  the  same  sex.  Its  horizontal  and  total  longitudinal 
circumferences  arc  each  25  mm.  greater  than  the  average  of  these 
measurements  in  the  brachycephalic  skulls,  while  its  transveri^e  vertical 
circumference  is  17'6  mm.  less.  The  increased  size  of  the  two  first 
circimiferences  in  this  skull  is  due  to  the  greater  antero-po.sterior  length 
of  the  frontal  and  especially  the  parietal  bones;  the  other  segments  being 
almost  the  same  in  both  varieties  of  skulls.  This  accords  with  the  fact 
pointed  out  by  M.  Gratiolet,  that  in  women  the  elongation  of  the  cranium 


342  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


depends  essentially  on  the  length  of  the  temporal  region,  and  is  the 
permanent  retention  of  a  childlike  character  dolichocephally ;  being  due, 
he  has  shown,  to  a  relative  development  of  bones  which  varies  with  age. 
It  is  essentially  occipital  in  the  infant,  temjMval  in  the  child,  and  frontal 
in  the  adult  man. 

The  form  of  the  foramen  magnum  varies  considerably,  being  in  some 
elongated  antcro-posteiiorly,  in  others  ahnost  circular. 

Gnathic  Index.—  On  an  average  the  male  skulls  are  mesognathous 
(having  an  index  between  98  and  103);  the  brachycephalic  females 
belong  to  the  same  group.  Considerable  variety  is  exhibited  individually 
by  the  male  skulls,  one  being  prognathous  and  another  orthognathous  ; 
the  same  variability  is  not  exhibited  by  the  females,  all  of  them  being 
mesognathous.     The  dolichocephalic  female  is  prognathous. 

Malar  Height. — The  development  of  the  malar  bones  is  usually  some- 
what greater  in  the  brachycephalic  skulls  than  in  Europeans,  but  consi- 
derable individual  variety  is  observable  which  confix-ms  the  observations  of 
Mr.  Forbes  on  living  natives.  The  malars  are  small  in  the  dolichocephalic 
female.  The  depression  on  the  malar  process  of  the  maxilla  or  maxillo- 
malar  notch,  observed  by  Professor  flower  to  be  present  in  the  Fijians, 
may  here  be  seen  in  the  skulls  where  the  malars  are  most  strongly 
developed. 

The  Orbits. — The  form  of  the  orbits  varies  considerably,  some  being 
wider  in  proportion  to  the  height  than  otiiers;  but  the  averages  show 
both  sexes  to  be  niesoseme  (index  from  8S  to  89). 

The  Nasal  Index. — ^The  form  of  the  nasal  aperture  presents  a  certain 
degree  of  variation,  the  index  varying  from  48'1  to  55'8  in  the  brachy- 
cephalic males,  and  in  the  females  of  that  class  from  49  to  G0"5,  the  averages 
of  the  former  being  62  and  of  the  latter  5r3.  The  average  index  of  the 
males  places  them  at  the  platyrhine  end  of  the  mesorhine  group  (between 
48  and  53),  while  the  females  are  just  within  the  platyrhine  class  (above 
E3).  Two  males  and  three  females  are  mesorhine,  and  two  males  and 
two  females  arc  platyrhine.     The  dolichocephalic  skull  is  mesorhine. 

The  Facial  angle  formed  by  the  meeting  of  the  alveolar  point  of  the 
ophryo-alvcolar  face-line  and  the  auriculo-alveolar  base  line  averages  70° 
in  the  males,  and  nearly  G&°  in  the  females.  As  differences  of  opinion 
may  exist  as  to  the  value  of  the  angle  taken  in  this  v.ay  I  have  added  the 
nisi-alveolar  length  as  well  as  the  basi-nasal  and  basi-alveolar  measure- 
ments. With  these  three  measurements  the  relation  of  the  alveolar  point 
to  the  cranio-facial  axis  of  Huxley,  or  basi-nasal  line  upon  which  the 
angle  of  gnathism  depends,  can  easily  be  calculated,  and  the  facial  angle 
thus  formed  aptly  compared  with  the  gnathic  index.  A  further  reason  for 
the  nasi-alveolar  length  finding  a  place  in  the  table  is  that  some  anato- 
mists, without  good  reason,  consider  it  to  be  preferable  to  the  ophryo- 
alveolar  length  as  the  measurement  of  facial  height,  owing  to  its  being 
more  definite  than  the  latter. 

Ilegional  characters  of  the  cranial  portion. — The  glabella  is  feebly 
developed  in  both  sexes,  being  represented  by  Nos.  O'l  of  Broca's  des- 
criptive outlines,  except  in  one  of  the  females  in  whom  it  equals  No.  2. 
The  superciliary  ridges  are  likewise  feebly  marked,  the  rebeing  usually 
only  a  slight  boss  projecting  obliquely  upwards  and  outwards  from  the 
glabella,  but  not  extending  any  distance  over  the  orbits.  The  forehead 
recedes  slightly,  but  the  degree  of  recession  varies  somewhat,  being  more 
marked  in  two  brachycephalic  females  than  in  any  of  the  others ;  while 
in  the  dolichocephalic  females  it  is  the  most  perpendicular.  Tubera  are 
well  marked  on  the  parietal  bones  of  the  young  male  skull,  and  are 
associated  with  a  narrow  base,  as  is  seen  by  the  bi-auricular  breadth 


IN   TIMOR-LAUT.  343 


being  less  than  that  of  any  of  the  other  males.  These  conditions  are 
usually  concomitant,  as  was  shown  by  Professor  AViesbach,  and  are 
indications  of  a  skull  not  having  attained  its  full  development,  as  in  this 
case,  or  of  the  permanent  retention  of  a  child-like  character  when  occurr- 
ing in  the  fully  adiilt  skull,  as  is  not  uncommon  in  women.  Epiteric 
bones  are  present  in  three  of  the  female  crania,  Nos.  1,  7.  and  9.  In  the 
male  skull  No.  10  the  squamosals  articulate  with  the  frontal,  the  alai 
sphenoid  not  intervening  between  thera,  as  is  usually  the  case.  The 
zygomatic  arches  can  be  seen  iu  most  instances  projecting  beyond  the 
outline  of  the  cranium  in  the  fronto- parietal  region — that  is  to  say,  the 
skulls  are  usiially  phsenozygous,  though  more  so  in  some  cases  than  in 
others.  In  order  to  estimate  the  amount  of  zygomatic  projection,  or 
the  relation  of  the  maximum  cranio-facial  breadth  to  the  fronto-parietal 
breadth  at  the  stephanion,  Topinard  has  suggested  the  formation  of  an 
index  from  th(!  bi-zygoniatic  and  bi-stephanic  breadths,  in  place  of  the 
angle  of  Quatrefiiges,  which  can  only  be  measured  by  means  of  a  comjili- 
cated  goniometer.  Taking  the  former  breadth  as  100,  1  find  that  the  bi- 
z.vgoste])hanic  index  of  the  brachycephalic  male  skulls  averages  87G,  and 
of  the  female  87"-4,  and  of  the  dolichocephalic  female  94"2. 

In  order  to  compare  these  averages  with  those  of  other  races,  I  have 
worked  this  out  in  the  series  of  Andamanese  skulls  and  of  Fijians  pub- 
lished by  Professor  Flower  in  the  volumes  of  the  "Journal  of  the 
Anthropological  Institute  "  for  1879  and  1880,  and  the  following  are  the 
results  obtained :  — 

Bl-zygostcphanic  Index. 

Andamanese  .,  12  malis,  88-3;  12  females,  91-5. 
Timor-laut  ..  3  „  87Mi;  5  „  87"4. 
Fijian     ..  ..        G      „       80-4;     5        „         85-5. 

Before  its  value  can  be  riglitly  estimated  it  will  require  to  be  worked 
out  in  a  much  more  extended  series.  It  may  be  stated,  however,  that 
crania  with  a  bi-zygostt;phanic  index  of  under  90  are  phsenozygus.  The 
development  of  the  inion  is  usually  represented  by  Broca's  descriptive 
figures  1  or  2.  Tiiough  not  very  prominent  the  inion  and  the  inner  or  mesial 
extremities  of  the  superior  curved  lines  are  well  developed  and  rugged,  a 
condition  to  which.  Professor  Thane  kindly  reminded  me.  Professor  Ecker 
has  attributed  consideralile  importance  as  being  indicative  of  a  simian 
character,  these  ridges  being  the  representative  in  man  of  the  crests  so 
well  marked  in  the  skull  of  the  orang-outan  and  other  anthropomorphous 
apes.  The  sutures  are,  as  a  rule,  simple,  varying  in  the  series  from  1  to 
3  of  Broca's  numbers,  both  in  regard  to  complexity  and  degree  of  oblite- 
ration. In  the  dolichocephalic  female  the  frontal  suture  is  metopic 
(s'je  p.  345),  but  in  none  of  tiie  other  skulls  does  this  condition  obtain. 
The  wormian  bones  are  small  in  most  instances.  All  the  brachycephalic 
skulls  of  botli  sexes  exhibit  more  or  less  llattcning  in  the  occipital  or 
parieto-occipital  region,  such  as  would  be  produced  by  laying  an  infant, 
without  any  soft  material  under  the  head,  in  a  cradle,  like  that  exhibited 
here  by  Mr.  Forbes  from  Timor-laut.  The  dolichocephalic  female  and 
child's  skulls  show  no  sign  of  flattening.  The  basilar  suture  is  entirely 
obliterated  in  all  instances  except  in  the  youth;  no  abnormality  is  to  be 
observed  in  any  case  in  the  under  surface  of  the  tranium. 

lieijional  chara-tcrs  offavxil  portiuii. — In  most  instances  the  face  has  a 
flat  appearance.  The  axes  of  the  orbits  are  in  some  instances  more 
horizontal  than  in  others.  The  inter-orbital  portion,  though  not  showing 
great  variation  in  actual  width,  differs  in  form  on  account  of  the  projec- 
tion of  the  nasal  bones  being  greater,  and  the  ascending  process  of  the 


344 


A   NATURALIST'S   WANDERINGS 


maxillaries  being  flatter,  in  some  instances  than  in  others.  It  occurred 
to  me  that  this  variation  might  be  expressed  by  measuring  the  angle  for- 
med by  the  nasal  bones  and  ascending  processes  of  the  maxillaries  at  the 
level  immediately  below  that  of  the  dacryon.  This  measurement,  which  I 
propose  to  call  the  nasi-maxillury  an<iJ(',\H  different  in  its  object  from  that 
of  M.  de  Merejkowsky,  which  ascertains  only  the  projection  of  the  nasal 
bones  or  maxillary  processes. 

The  outline  of  nose  is  represented  by  Broca's  descriptive  numbers 
1  and  8.  The  first  of  these  indicates  a  nose  with  a  low  bridge  turned  up- 
wards at  the  tip ;  the  latter  a  straight  nose  with  a  higher  bridge  tlian  the 
other.  We  have  therefore  identified  on  the  skulls  the  two  forms  of  nose 
observed  by  Mr.  Forbes  in  the  living  subject.  As  a  rule  the  straight  nose 
is  elevated  at  the  root,  and  the  naso-maxillary  angle  is  higher  than  in  the 
hooked  nose,  which  is  flat  at  the  root.     The  nasi- malar  angle  is  high  in 


NOHM.TJ  FRONTALIS   ET   LATERALIS  OF  THE   MALE   BEACHTCEPnALIC   SKULL,  NO.  4. 
(WITH  THE  PERMISSION  OF  THE  COUNCIL  OF  THE  ANTHROPOLOGICAL  INSTITUTE.) 

all  instances.  The  lower  margin  of  the  nasal  aperture  is  usually  well  de-. 
fined,  but  slopes  slightly  in  f-ome  instances  into  the  alveolar  portions  of 
the  maxillfe.  The  nasal  spine  is  feebly  developed,  being  represented  by 
Nos.  1  and  2  of  Broca.  The  alveolar  portion  of  the  maxilla?  has  become 
so  atrophied  after  loss  of  the  teeth  in  three  skulls  (one  male  and  two 
females)  as  to  be  reduced  to  almost  a  narrow  rim  of  bone;  in  these  the 
alveolar  height  has  not  been  measured.  A  correspondingly  atrophied 
condition  likewise  obtains  in  the  alveolar  border  of  the  respective  mandi- 
bles. In  the  others  in  which  the  teeth  were  complete  at  the  time  of  death 
this  portion  of  the  face  is  short ;  the  measurements,  however,  indicate 
a  "-reater  estimate  of  the  vertical  distance  between  the  floor  of  the  nose 
and  the  alveolar  plane,  as  in  most  instances  there  is  a  considerable  degree 
of  alveolar  prognathism.  The  maxillae  are  broad  in  comparison  to  their 
length,  especially  in  the  case  of  the  male  No.  10,  where  the  maxillary  or 


7.V   TIMOR-LAUT. 


345 


palatal  index  is  no  less  than  140-7.  The  palate  is  therefore  markedly  of 
the  parabolic  form.  In  this  skull  it  is  also  very  high.  The  maxillae  are 
narrowest  iu  the  dolichocephalic  female.  In  all  cases  the  posterior  edge 
of  the  vomer  slopes  considerably  forwards  as  well  as  downwards. 

The  characters  of  the  mandible  can  be  only  imperfectly  studied,  it 
being  lost  in  some  instances  and  much  atrophied  in  others.  The  chief 
character  seems  to  be  the  absence  of  prominence  of  the  chin :  the  sym- 
phesial  angle  is  consequently  high,  approaching  a  right  angle. 

Dentition  is  normal  in  all  the  skulls  except  the  male  No.  -i,  in  which  the 
last  upper  molars,  or  wisdom  teeth,  are  absent  from  non-development. 
The  skull  is  known,  however,  to  Mr.  Forbes  to  have  belonged  to  a  man  be- 
yond middle  age.  The  last  molars  have  not  been  tally  acquired  in  the  skull 
of  the  youth  Xo.  11.  In  size  the  teeth  are  large  but  not  abnormally  so, 
and  are  stained  bLick  in  two  of  the  male  skulls,  Nos.  4  and  10,  and  in  the 
female  skulls  Nos.  7  and  1.    In  the  male  No.  10,  the  upper  incisors  and 


NORM^  FnOXTALIS  ET  LATERALIS  OP  THE  FEMALE  DOLICHOCErHALIC  SKVLL,  XO  1. 
(with   the    PERMISSION    OF   THE   COUXCIL   OF   THE  ANTHROrOLOGICAL   INSTITUTE.) 

canines  have  been  filed  away  on  the  anterior  surface,  and  stained  black, 
making  them  more  spade-like.  This  custom  of  deforming  the  teeth,  and 
staining  them,  is  practised  very  commonly  in  Java  and  Birma,  and  else- 
where. The  incisors  and  canines  being  absent  in  the  other  male  skulls,  it 
is  impossible  to  say  whether  these  teeth  were  deformed  in  them  also. 
In  the  females  there  is  a  trace  of  a  similar  deformation  in  No.  2,  but  the 
filed  teeth  are  not  stained  artificially.  Grinding  down  the  anterior  upper 
and  lower  teeth  horizontally,  and  staining  them,  seems  to  have  been 
practised  in  Nos.  1  and  9.     In  the  other  skulls  the  teeth  have  been  lost, 

Rehitian  af  tlir  inhabittinfs  of  Thnnr-Iuut  to  tifose  of  ad jarent  countries. — 
That  the  .skulls  just  described  are  not  those  of  a  pure  race  is  very  evident. 
Two  very  distinct  types  can  be  made  out,  namely,  the  brachycephalic  and 
the  dolichocephalic,  the  former  greatly  predominating  in  numtier.  Both 
from  the  information  Mr.  Forbes  has  given  us  as  to  their  appearance,  and 
from  the  skulls  themselves,  there  is  no  difficulty  in  recognising  a  strong 


346  A    NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


Malay  element  in  the  population.  The  male  skull,  No.  4,  and  the  female, 
Jso.  6,  are  typicaHy  Malayan  in  their  characters,  especially  in  possessing 
large  open  rounded  orldts  and  smooth  forehead,  the  superciliary  ridges 
and  glabella  being  almost  entirely  absent.  'J'he  other  brachycephalic 
skulls,  though  not  presenting  such  a  striking  affinity,  agree  more  or  less 
with  the  type,  but  give  evidence  of  mixed  characters.  Ihe  dolicho- 
cephalic skull  is,  on  the  other  hand,  markedly  of  the  Papuan  type,  and 
coi responds  so  closely  as  to  be  undistinguishablc  from  two  crania 
obtained  twenty  miles  inland  from  Port  Moresby,  Xew  Guinea,  in  the 
College  of  Surgeons'  Museum,  also  from  another  from  the  Solomon 
Islands.  Along  with  ihis  ibrm  of  shell  Mr.  Forbes  informs  me  is 
associated  frizzly  hair  and  dark  skin. 

The  examination  of  the  cranial  characters  of  the  inhabitants  of  Timor- 
laut  as  illustrated  by  the  skulls  before  us  shows  that  the  peopling  of  this 
island  forms  no  exception  to  what  is  usually  found  in  the  various  groups 
of  islands  in  the  Polynesian  Archipelago.  From  its  close  proximity  to 
New  Guinea,  perhaps  more  of  the  Papuan  element  might  have  been 
expected. 

The  relative  proportions  of  the  two  races  in  any  particular  place  seem 
to  vary  considerably,  however,  and  till  more  is  known  of  thehistory  of  this 
part  ot'  the  world,  the  distribution  of  its  inhabitants  will  not  he  understood. 
Valuable  contributions  to  our  knowledge  of  this  vexed  question  have  been 
made  by  the  writings  of  M.  Quatrefagts,  Professors  Flower  and  Keane,  Mr. 
Staniland  Wake,  and  others.  Series  of  skulls  and  skeletons  like  the 
present  from  different  districts,  with  accounts  of  the  inhabitants,  aro 
always  valuable  additions,  and  assist  materially  to  unravel  the  ethnology 
of  this  interesting  part  of  the  globe. 


IN   TIMOR-LAUT. 


347 


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A   NATURALIST'S   WANDERINGS 


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IN  TIMOR-LAUT. 


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352 


A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


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7.V   TIMOR-LAUT.  353 


Notes  ox  the  Table  of  Measurements. 

All  the  measurements  given  in  the  preceding  table  correspond  to 
those  recommended  by  Broca  in  the  "  Instructions  Craniologiques " 
(Paris,  1875),  except  the  following,  some  of  which  are  not  given  in  that 
work : — 

The  transverse  arcs. — These  are  measured  with  the  tap^  from  the  point 
on  the  ridge  at  the  posterior  root  of  the  zygoma  immediately  above  tlie 
middle  of  the  external  auditory  meatus,  where  the  ridge  is  crossed  by 
the  auriculo-bregmatic  line  (the  courhe  sns-auriculare  of  Broca)  over  the 
respective  parts  of  the  cranium,  to  the  corresponding  point  on  the 
opposite  temporal  bone. 

Naso-alveolar  leajth. — From  the  nasion  to  the  alveolar  point. 

Palatine  region. — The  maxillary  length  is  measured  from  the  alveolar 
point  to  the  middle  of  a  line  drawn  across  the  hinder  borders  of  the 
maxillary  tuberosities.  This  is  easily  done  by  stretching  a  piece  of  fine 
wire  across  the  back  of  the  mouth,  tlae  wire  resting  on  each  side  in  the 
groove  between  the  pterygoid  and  the  tuberosity.  The  width  is  taken 
between  tlie  outer  borders  of  llie  alveolar  arch  immediately  above  the 
middle  of  the  second  molar  tooth. 

Facial  angle. — The  angle  formed  by  the  meeting  of  the  auriculo-alveo- 
lar  base  line  with  the  ophryo-alveolar  fcice  line  at  the  alveolar  point 
measured  with  Broca's  median  goniometer. 

Nasi-malar  angle. — The  angle  formed  by  the  nasal  bones  and  the  ex- 
ternal margins  of  the  orbits  at  a  point  a  little  below  the  fronto-malai 
articulation. 

Nasi-maxillary  a^igle. — Exi^lained  in  the  text,  page  344. 

Basilar  angle — This  is  the  angle  X  B  Y  of  the  "  Instructions,"  p.  92, 
or  the  naso-basio-oi^isthial  angb. 

Bi-zygostephanic  /»r/ex.— Defined  in  the  text,  page  343. 

Conoroid  height. — From  the  goniou  to  tlie  top  of  the  coronoid  process. 

Gonio-symphesial  height  measured  with  the  calipers. 

The  size  of  the  glabella,  nasal  bones,  and  spine,  inion,  wormian  bones, 
and  wear  of  teeth,  are  indicated  by  Broca's  descriptive  numbers  given 
in  the  "  Instructions." 

Kxplanation  of  Plate  (pp.  344,  345). 

All  the  figures  represent  the  skulls  with  the  alveolo-condylar  i^lane 
horizontal. 

The  j)hotozincographs  were  reduced  from  drawings  by  Mr,  J.  G. 
Goodchild,  the  outlines  of  the  skulls  from  which  they  are  taken  having 
been  previously  geometrically  jirojected  by  means  of  Broca's  stereograph 
by  myself. 

Tiiis  paper  is  reproduced  from  the  'Journal  of  the  Anthropological 
Institute '  for  May,  1884.    (H.O.F.) 


354 


A   NATURALIST'S   WANDERINGS 


II.— LIST  OF  PLANTS  FEOM  TIMOE-LAUT. 

Compiled  from  the  Author  s  Herbarium,  as  determined  at  the  Royal  Gardens, 
Kew,  along  with  a  small  Collection  made  by  Native  Collectors  employed 
by  Resident  Riedel. 


Clematis  s-p. 

Anamirt  I  Cocculus,  W.  &  A . 
Ocbrccarpus  ovalifolius,  T.  And.  ? 
Sida  huniilis  W.  var.  lepens. 

rhombifo'ia,  L. 
Abutilon  iudiciim,  Don. 

gruveolens,  W.  &  A. 
Hibiscus  surattensi.-:,  L. 

tetrapbyllus,  Koxb. 
Gossypium  barb^deiise,  L. 
Thesposia  po])nluea,  Corr. 
Sterculia  fcetida.  L. 
Melocliia  odorata,  Forst. 

velutina,    Bedd.     var.    gla- 

bratii. 
pubesceas,  Bl. 
Corchovus  tiilociilaris,  li. 
Murray  a  exotica,  L.  var. 
Glycosiiiis  pentiiphylla,  Corr. 
sapindoides,  Lindl. 
Tristellateia  australasica,  A.  R. 
Owenia  (may  be  O.  cerasifera,  F.  M.). 
Calopbyllum  Inopbylluni,  L. 
Dodonsea  viscosa,  L. 
Vitis  coriacea,  Bliq. 
Strombosia  sp. 
Erioplossum  edule,  Bl. 
Flemingia  slrobilifera,  R.  Br. 
Desmoilium  uinbcllatum,  DC. 
Poiigamia  glabra,  A^eut. 
Phaseolus  spp. 
Blucuna  (Stizolobium)  sp. 
Canavalia  obtusifolia,  DC. 
Vigna  lutea,  A.  Gr. 
Dolicbos  Lablab,  L. 
Cajanus  iudicus,  Spr. 
Indigofera  unifoliata. 
Dichrostachys  nutans  ? 
Cynoraetra  nirairtora,  L. 

hijuga,  Sp. 
Cassia  javanica,  L. 

alrtta,  L. 
Cajsalpinia  pulcbcrrinin,  S\v. 

Nuga,  Ait. 
Bauhinia  Blancoi,  Bentb. 
Pempbis  acidula,  Forst. 
Bruguiera  caryopliylloidcs,  Bl. 
Lumnitzera  eoceinej,  W.  &  A. 
Peltopborum  ferrugineuui,  Btb 
Eugenia  javanica.  Lam. 

aff.  javanicaj. 
Luffa  cylindrica,  Roera. 
Momordica  Clmrantia,  L. 


Zebneria  afF.  mucronatsB. 
Delarbrea  sp. 

Sesiivium  Portiilacastrum,  L. 
Cariip;i  moluccensis,  L. 
Portulaca  oleracea,  L. 
Bryophyllura  calyciiiuni,  Salisb. 
Randia  spp. 
Ixora  sp. 

aff.  I.  timorensis,  Done. 
Psycliotria  sp. 
Morinda  citrifolia,  L. 
Cerium  Roxburgbiaiiinn,  Bcnth. 
Vernonia  cinerea.  Less. 
Blumea  membranacea,  DC. 
Wedelia  biflora,  DO. 
Bideiis  bipiiinata,  L. 
Diospyros  inaritima,  Bl. 
Maesa  sp. 

Jasminura  lancifoliuni,  Dene. 
Dischidia  sp. 
Marsdenia  sp. 

Gyiunema  vel  Sarcolobns  sp. 
Mitreola  oldenlaudioides.  Wall. 
Alstonia  speclabilis,  Br. 
Taberniemontana  piirviHora,  Poir. 

oricntalis,  R.  Br. 
Cordia  siibcordata,  Lam. 
Ipomoea  Turpethura,  L. 

cymosa,  R.  &  Schult. 
Hewittia  bicolor,  W.  &  A. 
Convolvulus  parviflorus,  Vahl. 
Tournefoitia  sarmentosa.  Lam. 
Solanum  verbascifolium,  L. 
Lycopeisicum  esculentuin,  Mill. 
Physalis  minima,  L. 
Datura  alba,  Nees. 
Capsicum  frutesccns,  L. 
Buclmera  angusta. 
Leucas  dccenidentata,  Sm. 
Coleus  SL'utellarioides,  Benth. 
Ociraum  canum,  L. 
Hyptis  spicigerii,  Lnm. 
Premna  obtusifolia,  R.  Br. 
Vitex  trifolia,  L. 

aff.  V.  Negundo,  L. 
Clerodendron  longiflorum,  Dene,   vel 

sp.  aff. 
Barleria  Prionotis,  L. 
Dilivaria  ilicilolia,  Jacq. 
A  sy stasia  (an)  ehelonoides,  Nees. 
Hypoestes  floiibundn,  R.  Br.  var. 
Eraiitbemum  sp.  (  ?  variabile.) 
I  Deeriugia  celosioides,  R.  Br. 


IN  TIMOR-LAUT. 


355 


.^ua    scandens,  Wall.,   vel   velutina, 
Miq. 
san;:juinolenta,  Bl. 
Aniarautus  caudatus,  L. 
Salsola  Tragus,  L. 
INIyristlca  insipida,  R.  Rr. 
Aristolochia  sp. 
Piper  sp.  afF.  P.  canino,  Dietr. 
Lorantlius  (Dendrophtlioe)  sp.  aff.  L. 

rigido.  Wall. 
Mauiliot  utilissima,  Pol.l. 
Acalypha  indica,  L. 
Phyllantlius  diversifolius,  Mlill.   Arg. 

vel  sp.  aff. 
ExcKcariLi  Agallocha,  ^liill.  Arg. 
Mallotus  albus,  Jliill.  Arg. 

repandus,  Mull.  Arg. 
Trewia  sp. 

Spoiiia  timorensis,  Dcao. 
Fatua  i)ilo,sa.  Gaud. 

lanceolata.  Dene. 
Pipturus  velutinus,  Wed  I. 
Fleurya  intenupta,  Gaud. 


Pouzolzia  peutandra,  Benn. 
Urostigma  sp. 

Ficus  sp.  aff.  acanthophyllsD,  Miq. 
Balaiiopliora  sp. 

Dendrobium  antennatum,  Lindl. 
Phalfieaopsie,  Fitzg. 
Dioscorca  spp. 
Cordylino  terminalis,  Kth. 
Coinmelina  nuditlor.i,  L. 
Cocos  nucifera,  L. 
Borassus  flabelliforniis,  L 
Metro.Kylou  laeve,  Mart. 
Pandanus  sp. 
Aroidea;  spp. 
Cyperus  peunatu^,  Lam. 
Setaria  italica,  Beauv. 
Sorghum  vulgare.  Pars. 
Polypodium  iiioide.-',  I. am. 
Pteris  tripartita,  Lam. 
Asplenium  galeatum,  Lara. 
Vittaria  elongata,  Sw. 
Lycopodium  cariuatum,  Des. 
Phleginaria,  L. 


III.— LIST  OF  THE  BIEDS  OF  TIMOR-LAUT.* 

In  order  to  give  as  correct  a  list  as  possible  of  the  Avifauna  of  the 
Tenimber  Islands,  I  liave  reproduced  the  original  descriptions  of  my 
collections  given  by  Dr.  Sclater,  in  the  'Proceedings'  of  the  Zoological 
Society,  (1883,  pp.  48,  194).  I  have  also  included  the  species  recently 
described  by  Dr.  ^Meyer,  from  specimens  obtained  by  Mr.  Eeidel's  hunters, 
in  the  paper  read  by  him  at  the  Ornithological  Congress  in  Vienna  in 
1881,  entitled,  "  Neue  und  unbenligend  bekennte  Vogel  Nester  und  Eier 
aus  dem  Ostindischen  Archipel  im  Kiinigl.  Zool.  Mus.  zu  Dresden." 
Some  of  these  species  were  also  met  with  by  myself,  biat  I  liave  in  many 
cases  not  been  able  to  recognise  their  distinctness  from  other  i>revioiisly 
described  forms.  As  many  of  these  differences  of  opinion  have  been  the 
subject  of  discussion  between  Dr.  Meyer  and  myself,  I  have  thought  it  as 
well  to  reproduce  my  published  remarks  in  the  present  appendix. 


I.   ACCIPITRES. 

1.  AsTun  ALBivENTRis,  Salvad. 

Urospizias  albiveiitris,  Sdlv.,  Mcycr,  loc.  cit. 

2.  Hali^tus  leucogaster,  Gm. 

Cuncwna  leucogaster,  Gm.,  Meyer,  loc.  cit. 

3.  Haliastur  girreneha,  v. 

4.  Baza  subcristata,  (iould. 

5.  rANDioy  leucocephalus,  Gould. 

6.  CeRCHNEIS  M0LUCCENSI8,  H.  &  J. 

Tinnunrulus  mohiccensis,  Sclater,  loc.  cit. 

7.  NiNox  FORBESi,  Sclatcr,  loc.  cit. 

Supra  rufescenti-brunnca,  fere  unicolor,  in  alarum  tectricibus  et  scapulari- 
bus  fasciolis    albis    variegata ;    fronte    et    svperciliis    albis ;    alarum 

*  See  Reports  of  the  Timor-laut  Commiltee  in  Rep.  Brit.  Assoc.  1881,  p.  IL'7, 
18S2,  p.  275,  and  1883. 


350  A   NATUIiALIST'S    V/ANDEItlNGS 

remigibus  ierreno-brunneis,  nigro  tranitfasciatia ;  siibtus  dorso  concolor, 
mento  alhicante,  ventre  albo  trarisfasciato  ;  tarsis,  omnino  phimosis,  rum 
suhaJarlbus  rufis  unicoloribus  ;  alarum  ct  Cauda;  pagina  infer iore  pall ide 
corylino-brannca  nigro  reyulariter  transfascinta ;  rostri  nigri  apice 
flavicante;  digitis  fuscis  sctis  obtedis  :  long,  iota  110,  alee  7'4,  eaudci 
*4-5,  tarsi  IS. 
.  Hah.  Liitur,  Timor-Iaut. 

Obs.  Sp.  quoad  colores  N.  hantii  maximc  affinis,  set!  facie  alba  fasciis 
ventris  albis,  et  alis  subtus  nigro  vittatis  diversa. 

Tlie  single  specimen  of  this  Owl  is  a  male,  obtained  at  Lutur  on 
August  9,  1881.  It  is  noted:  Iiides  golden;  bill  jiale  cinereous;  feet 
pale  yellow,  covered  ■uitli  bristly  liairs ;  soles  of  feet  nearly  orange." 

I  have  dedicated  this  apparently  distinct  sijccies  to  its  discoverer, 
Mr.  Henry  0.  Forbes,  F.Z.S. 

8.  Strix  souorcula,  Sclater. 

Supra  terreno-fusca  JIauicante  variegata,  et  punctis  rotundis  albis  regulari- 
ter  aspersa  ;  disco  facicdi  amplo  albo,  margiue  nigricanti-brunneo 
circumdato  ;  macula  anteocidarl  nigricante ;  remigibus  fuscis,  nigro 
traiisfasclatis,  in  pojoniis  externis  ftdvo  macidatis  et  albido  vermicu- 
latis ;  caudx  nigricante,  tctniis  quinque  fulvis  transfasciata  et  albido 
vermiculata ;  subtus  cdba,  pifccipue  in  ventre  mactdis  rotundis  nigris 
fulvo  clnctls  aspersa,  subalarlbus  ventre  concoloribus ;  tarsis  postice  fere 
omnino  plumulis  obtedis,  antlce  diqitos  versus  setis  paucis  obsitis ; 
rostro  et  pedibus  camels  :  long,  tota  11"5,  ala;  8"5,  caudce  3'5,  tarsi  2"2. 
Hab.  Larat,  ins.  Tenimberensem. 

Obs.  Specie?  novce-hollandki'  affinis  et  ejusdem  formse,  sed  crassih'e 
valde  minore,  tarsorum  plumis  brevioribus  et  dorsi  punctis  rotundiori- 
bus  distinguenda 

Mr.  Sharpc,  who  has  kindly  examined  the  single  skin  of  this  Owl  sent, 
is  of  ojjinion  that  it  belongs  to  a  species  allied  to  Slrix  novce-lwllandia;, 
but  easily  recognisable  by  its  inferioj.'  size. 

The  example  was  obtained  on  Larat  on  the  Otth  of  September,  1882, 
and  is  labelled  : — "  Female  :  irides  dark  brown  ;  bill,  legs,  and  feet  flesh- 
colour  ;  legs  covered  with  flesh-coloured  bristles." 

II.   PSITTACI. 

9.  Tantgnathus  subaffinis,  Sclater. 

Flavicanti-viridis,  in  jnleo  et  capitis  lateribus  j^rasitms,  in  dorso  postico 
cceruleo  lavatus  ;  ah.s  viridibus  ;  scapidariiim  apicibus,  campterio  ulari 
extus  et  tectricum  majorum  murginibus  ca^ruleis  ;  secundariorum  tectri- 
cibus  flavo  marginatis ;  cauda  stipra  viridi,  apice  flavicante,  subtus 
obscure  auridenta  ;  subalaribus  viridibus  cceruleo  mixtis,  alarum pagina 
inferiore  nigricante;  rostro  ruberrimo ;  pedibus  nigris;  long,  tota  13'0, 
ales  9  5,  caudce  6'0. 
Hab.  Larat,  ins.  Tenimberensem. 

Obs.  Species  T.  affini  maximc  affinis,  sed  dorso  flavicante  viriJi  vix 
cseruleo  lavato,  diversa. 

The  single  specimen  is  a  female,  obtained  ia  Larat  on  August  8,  1882. 
"  Irides  cream-yellow,  Avith  inner  ring  of  pale  gamboge.'" 

10.  Geoffroius  keiensis,  Salvad. 

G.  timorlaoeyisis,  Meyer,  loc.  cit.    ^ 


The  Geoffroius  determined   by  Dr.  Sclater   to   be    G.  heyensis  (Salv.) 
has  been  elevated  into  a  new  species,  G.  timorlaoensis  by  Dr.  Meyer. 


7^   TIMOR-LAUT.  357 


He  admits  that  the  Feparation  is  based  on  very  minute  diflferences, 
which,' however,  he  beh"eves  will  lie  found  constant.  "  Geofroifis  [timur- 
Jaoensis^,  G.  keyensi,  Salva.,  simillimus,  ^ed  minor  et  primariai  extimsR 
pogonio  externo  •vircsccnti  diversus."  On  comparing  the  Timor-laut 
birds  with  Ke  specimens  in  the  British  Miiseuni  determined  by  Count 
Salvadori,  the  case  stands  as  follows: — Timor-laut  skins  vary  from 
210-290  millim.,  while  G.  Jceyensis  (Salv.)  ranges  from  235-255  millim. 
Length  of  wing  in  the  former  165-170  millim.,  and  in  (/.  /.eijensis 
(Salv.)  175-185  millim.  The  tail  is  shorter  in  6".  tuiwrhioensis  than  in 
G.  keyensis  ;  while  the  tarsus  agrees  in  both.  In  Timor-laut  speci- 
mens the  external  web  of  the  outermost  primary,  where  in  the  upper 
portion  the  colour  is  hJue,  and  in  the  lower  qreen,  exactly  agrees 
with  a  si^ecimen  from  Ke,  of  the  Challenger  collection,  determined  as 
G.  keyensis  by  Salvadori.  Both  these  are  males.  A  female  from  Ke  has 
the  same  region  of  this  feather  blue  throughout  its  length ;  while  a 
female  from  Timor-laut  has  a  very  narrow  yellowish  edge  to  the  green- 
blue  margin  of  the  primary..  A  female  obtained  by  the  Challenger  natu- 
ralists, also  determined  by  Salvadori  as  G.  kcyenst's,  is  identical  in  colo- 
ration, while,  lastly,  the  colour  of  the  under  surfaces  of  the  wings  can 
scarcely  be  fletected  to  diifer.  It  would  appear,  therefore,  so  far  as  the 
skins  from  Timor-laut  and  Ke,  in  the  British  Museum  and  in  my  own 
collection,  afford  material  for  forming  an  opinion,  that  these  differential 
characters  will  not  be  found  to  have  the  constancy  that  Dr.  Meyer  has 
expected.  The  wing  measurements  certainly  are  less  in  Timor-laut 
specimens.  It  is  jn'obable  that  the  differences  in  coloration  are  due 
to  age  only,  and  are  not  sufficient  to  separate  the  Ke  from  the  Tenimber 
birds.    [H.  0.  F.] 


11.  ECLECTUS  RiEEELi,  Mcycr,  P.  Z.  S.  3881,  p.  917.     Sclater,  loc.  cit. 
PJ.  XXVI. 

Dr.  A.  B.  Meyer  has  accurately  described  the  female  of  this  fine 
species. 

All  the  green  skins  are  marked  "  ^  ,"'  and  all  the  red  "  $  ."  The  male 
not  yet  having  been  described,  I  give  short  diagnoses  of  both  sexes. 

$.  Liefe  vlridis,  capite  clariore,  subcaudaUhus  flavicante  t Indus ;  stib- 
alarihus  et  hypochondriis  coccineis  ;  campterio  aJarl  et  remigum  prima- 
rioruin  marginihus  externis  et  seciindariorum  {extus  dorso  concoJortun') 
apicihus  cicruleis ;  alarum  pagina  inferiore  nigra  ;  cauda  supra  viridi 
dorso  concolori,  suhtus  nigra,  apice  plus  quam  semipollicari  ■  ahrupte 
flavo ;  rectrice  una  utrinque  extima  in  pogonio  exteriore  cxruleo  noiato ; 
rcstro  superiorii  rubra,  apice  flavicante;  inferiore  nigra:  long,  iota 
lis,  alw  8-7,  caud,v4:-6. 
$.  Rubra  punicea,  capite  et  carpore  subtus  coccineis;  crisso  flavo ;  camp- 
terio alari  et  remigum  primariarum  marginibus  externis  cxi'uleis;  cauda 
supra  ad  basin  viridi  in  rubrtim  transeunte,  ad  apicem  late  flava,  sttbtus 
flava  ad  basin  nigricante  ;  rostra  nigra  ;  crassitie  pxiulo  minore. 
JIab.  insulus  Tcniiuberenses. 

Of  the  four  .skins  in  the  present  collection,  two  males  (green)  are  from 
Larat,  and  one  male  and  one  female  from  Lutur. 

As  I  have  remarked  (P.  Z.  S.  1883,  p.  49),  there  can  be  no  longer  any  doubt 
that  Krlf'ctiis  ririlrli  is  (jnite  a  distinct  S])ecies  of  the  genus,  characterised 
l)y  the  broad  well-defined  yellow  tail-end  of  the  male,  and  liy  the  absence 
of  the  blue  on  the  back  of  the  neck  and  on  the  belly  in  the  female. 
Neglecting  E,  westcrmanni  and  Eclectus  cornelia,  of  which  wo  do  not  know 


358  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

the  opposite  sexes  or  the  localities,  we  are  now  acquainted  with  both 
sexes  and  the  patriae  of  four  species  of  these  anomalous  Parrots,  dis- 
tributed as  follows : — 

(1)  E.  pedoruUs  (Salvad.  op.  cit.  p.  197),  of  New  Guinea  and  the  Aru 
and  Ke  islands,  extending  to  New  Britain,  New  Ireland,  and  the  Solomon 
Islands. 

(2)  E.  roratus  (Salvad.  p.  206),  of  the  island  group  of  Halmahera,  i.e. 
Halmahera,  Ternate,  Batchiau,  Morty,  and  Obi.  . 

(3)  E.  cardinalis  (Salvad.  p.  210),  of  the  island  group  of  Ceram,  i.e. 
Ceram,  Amboina,  and  Boru. 

(4)  E.  riedeli,  of  the  Tenimber  group. 

The  males  of  these  four  species  are  very  similar  in  colouring;  but  with 
the  help  of  Dr.  Salvadori's  diagnosis  of  the  first  three  we  may  separate 
them  as  follows : 

A.  Majores  :  cauda  supra  Cffirulco  variegata. 

Cauda  miuus  ca^rulea   ......     (1)  pectnralig. 

Cauda  magis  cajrulea    ......     (2)  roratus. 

B.  Minores  :  cuuda  supra  viridi,  subtus  nigra. 

Cauda  apice  angusto  flavicante      ....     (3)  cardinalis. 
Cauda)  fascia  apicali  distincte  flava         .  .  .     (4)  riedeli. 

The  female  of  E.  riedeli,  as  already  mentioned,  is  very  easily  distin- 
guished from  the  same  sex  of  the  first  three  si^ecies  by  the  absence  of 
the  blue  neck-band  and  of  the  blue  on  the  abdomen.  As  regards  its 
yellow  under  tail-coverts  and  yellow  tail-end,  it  comes  nearest  to  E. 
roratus. 

12.  Eos  RETICULATA,  S.  Milll. 

13.  Neopsittacus  euteles,  T.  « 

14.  Cacatua  sanguinea,  Gould. 

To  my  great  surprise  this  Cacatua  is  not  C.  citrinocristata,  as  I  liad 
suspected.  The  original  specimens  of  C.  sanguinea  were  obtained  at  Port 
Essmgton  in  N.  Australia;  so  that  its  occurrence  in  the  Timor-laut  group 
is  not  after  all  so  very  remarkable. 

III.  PlCAKI.*:. 

15.  Saueopatis  chloris,  Bodd. 

16.  S.  AUSTRALASIA  and  var.  minor,  Meyer,  n.  var. 

17.  S.  SANCTA,  Y.  &  H. 

IV.  Passeres. 

18.  PiEZOEHYNCHUS  CASTUS,  Sclater. 

Monarcha  castus,  Scl .  P.  Z.  S.  1883,  loe.  sup.  cit. 

Supra  nigtr  ;  pileo  et  regione  auricidari  ulhis,  fronte  et  tcenia  nucham 
cingente  nigris  circumdatis ;  dorso  summo  tcenice  nucliali  proximo, 
ttropygio  et  tectricibus  alarum  minoribus  cum  scapuJarium  marginibus 
externis  albis  ;  suhtus  albiis,  gutture  nigra,  macidis  tribus  albis  ornato  ; 
cauda  alba,  rectricibus  tribus  externis  albo  late  terminatis ;  subalaribus 
et  remigum  pogcniis  internis  albis  ;  rostri  plumbei  tomiis  albicantibus ; 
pedibus  plumbeis :  Jong,  tota  5"7,  aloi  2'7,  cauda;  2'8. 

Hab.  Lutur,  Timor-la  at. 

Obs.  Affinis  31.  leucoti,  sed  gula  nigra  distinctus. 

The  single  example  is  marked  "Male:  irides  reddish  brown;  bill 
lavender;  legs  and  feet  ditto ;  September  1882." 


Iir   TIMOR-LAUT.  359 


Heteeanax.  Sharpe,  gen.  nov.  (erepor  =  alter,  <ti'a|  =  rex)  is  closely  allied 
.to  the  Australian  genus  Sizura  ;  but  the  bill  is  narrower,  less  flattened 
"and  strongly  compressed,  so  that  it  is  higher  than  broad  at  the  notrils. 

ID.  Heteranax  mundus,  Sclater. 

Monarcha  mundus,  Scl.  P.  Z.  S.,  1883,  loc.  cit. 
Suvra  obscure  cinerens,  frunte  lato,  capitis  lateribus  et  tectricihus  alarum 
iotis  nigris ;    subtus  albits,  mento  et  plaga 
gulce  media  nigris;  caitda  nigra,  recti icum 
quatuor    latercdium    apicibus    latis   albis  ; 
subalaribus  albis,  remigum  pagina  inferiore 
cinerea;    rostro  compresso,  colore  plumbeo, 
gonyde  ascendente  ;  pedibus  nigris;    long, 
tot  a  G'O,  alee  3"2,  caudce  2"7. 
JIab.  Ins.  Tenimberenses,  Larat  et  Yamdena. 
This  species  seems  to  be  allied  to  M.  moro- 
tensis,  M.  bernsteini  and  M.  niqriinentum,  but 
has  an  unusually  compressed  bill,  of  ^vhich  ^'^/^  ^y^;^^;^^  "J'^^.J^J'^^^ 

.,  •         1-    \  ±^  11  OF  BILL  OF  OF  BILL  OF 

the  gonys  is  slightly  curved  upwards.  ^  ,,„„,^^,^,^        p  ^^^^^^ 

20.  Monarcha  nitidus,  Salvadori.  (with  perjussiox  of  cot:ncil 

21.  EniPiDURA  hamadryas,  Sclater.  of  zool.  soc.) 
Supra  castanea,  in  capite  postico  et  cervice  magis  fuscescens,  fronte  dorso 

conrolore ;  subtus  pallide  cervina,  torque  guttiwali  nigro  ;  gida  alba;  alls 
caudaque  nigricantibus,  illis  rii/o  anguste  marginatis  ;  hujus  reclricibus 
extcrnis  cinerascenfe  albo  late  terrninatis ;  rostro  et  pedibus  nigris:  long, 
tota  5'7,  aloi  2'3,  caudce  3'2. 
JIab.  Larat,  ins.  Tenimberensom. 

Obs.  Proxima  L'.  dnjadi  (Gould,  B.  N.  G.  pt.  ii.  pi.  11),  sed  cervice 
postica  rufesconte  nee  fusca  et  alarum  tcctricibus  rufo  marginatis, 
dignoscenda. 

22.  Ehipidura  fusco-rufa,  Sclater. 

Supra  obscure  terreno-fusca,  in  dorso  rufescenti  tinda  ;  alis  nigricantibus, 
tectricum  minorum  apicibus  et  secundariortim  marginibus  externis  late 
riifis;  subtus  rufa,  mento  et  gutture  toto  ad  medium  pectus  cdbis  ;  sub- 
alaribus rujis  ;  remigum  marginibus  internis  fulvis  ;  caudce  nigricantis 
rectricibus  tribus  externis  ivtis  et  jxiris  jiroximi  apicibus  rnfis  ;  rostro  et 
pedibus  nigris.  Long,  tota  7'0,  alee  33,  caudce  3"4. 
$  .  Mari  similis. 

JIab.  insulas  Tenimberenses  Larat,  Molu  et  Lutur. 
Obs.  Sp.  rostro   robusta   lato,  cauda  parum  graduata  fusco  et  rufo 
bipartita  insignis. 

There  are  14  specimens  of  this  apparently  new  and  very  distinct 
lihipidura  in  the  collection,  from  the  three  localities  above  mentioned. 
The  irides  are  marked  "  dark  brown,"  and  the  legs  and  feet  "  black." 

The  bill  is  broad  and  rolmst,  and  the  rectrices  but  slightly  graduated, 
the  external  being  only  about  UJ:  inch  shorter  than  the  middle  pair;  so 
that  the  species  would  ajjpear  to  come  in  the  same  division  as  Nos.  12 
and  13  of  Count  Salvadori's  list. 

23.  Rhii'idura  opistherytora,  Sclater. 

Supra  cinerascco-fusca,  dorso  postico  castaneo-ruf a  ;  loris  cdbidis  ;  alarum 
nigricantium  marginibus  exttrnis  ru/escentibus ;  subtus  pallide  fulva, 
gutture  albo,  crisso  castaneo,  hypnrhondriis  rufescenti  lavatis  ;  caudce 
elongatce  et  valde  graluatx  rectricibus  ru/escentibus,  supra  castaneo  extus 
marginatis  ;  rostro  superiore  nigro,  inferiore  ad  basin  et  pedibus pallidis  : 
long,  tota  G7,  ala:  3"4:,  caudce  rectr.  med.  3"8,  cxt.  2o,  tarsi  0'9. 


360  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

Hah.  Insulas  Tenixnberenses  Larat  et  Maru. 

Ohs.  Sp.  gutture  albo  et  dorso  postico  et  crisso  castaneis,  sicut  videtur, 
facile  dignoscendo. 

The  two  si^ecimeiis  of  this  species  in  the  collc3tion  arc  both  marked  as 
$  ;  but  the  male  would  probably  not  differ  in  coloration.  "  Irides  dark 
brown;  upper  mandible  sooty  brown,  lower  mandible  same  at  toj:),  but 
pale  flesh  colour  at  base;  feet  lavender  pink." 

This  species  belongs  to  the  section  with  small  bill,  and  the  tail- 
feathers  much  graduated,  the  outer  pair  being  1-3  in.  shorter  than  the 
middle  pair.  Below,  the  tail  is  pale,  rufoiis,  the  inner  webs  of  the 
rectrices  passing  into  blackish.  Above,  the  outer  tail-feathers  are 
margined  externally  at  their  bases  with  the  chestnut-red  of  the  rump. 

24.  Myiagra  fulviventkis,  Sclatcr. 

Supra  plumbea,  capite  ct  dorso  nitore  cccruleo  tinctis  ;  alis  et  caitda  fusco- 
niijricantihus ;    suhtus  saturate  castaneo-nifa,  ahdomine  et  suhaJaribus 
fidvis  ;  remigum  marc/inibiis  interioribiis  aJhicuntihus  ;  rostra  et pedibus 
vitjris  :  Jong,  iota  5"8,  aloi  2'7,  caudcv  2'7. 
Ilab.  Larat,  ins.  Tenimberensem. 

Obs.  Proxima  il/.  riifiyidx  ex  Timor,  sed  ventre  et  subalaribus  fulvis 
distinguenda. 

"  Irides  dark  brown,  bill  lavender-blue,  legs  and  feet  black : "  The 
type  was  obtained  in  Larat  on  August  2nd,  1882 ;  and  others  later. 

25.  MiCRCECA  HEMIXANTHA,  Sclatcr. 

Supra  flavicanti-olivacea  ;   alls   caudaque  fuscis  dorsi  colore  marginatis, 

lor  is  et   linea   superciliari  obsoleta  flavidis;  macula  auriculari  fusca ; 

subtus  flava,  remigum  inarglnibus  intemis  albldis  ;  subalaribus  flavis  ; 

rostrifusci  mandibida  infer  lore  pallida  ;  pedibus  nigris:  long,  tola  4 '8 

(the  2 ■  9,  Cauda;  2 '  1. 
flab.  Larat  et  Luti^r. 

Obs.  Species  Pa'cilodryadi  x'^inmnx,  quoad  colores,  fere  similis,  sed,  ut 
videtur,  generi  Microecx  apponenda. 

26.  Art  AMIDES  tjnimodus,  Sclatcr. 
Graucalus  unimodus,  P.  Z.  S.  1883,  p.  55. 

The  collection  contained  two  ma'es  and  three  females  of  this  species. 
The  sexes  are  not  quite  similar,  as  avxU  be  seen  from  the  subjoined 
diagnoses. 

$  Cinereus  ;  fronte,  loris  et  capitis  lateribus  cum  gutture  toto  ad  medium 
pectus  ceneo-nigris  ;  alis  et  cauda  nigris  illis  cinereo  extus  marginatis ; 
subalaribus  pallide  isabellinis ;  remigum  pagina  inferiore  alhicanti- 
cinerea ;  rostro  et  pedibus  nigris :  long,  tola  13 '5,  alx,7'3,  cdudce  6 '5, 
tarsi  1  ■  3. 
^    Mari  similis,  sed  paulum  obscurior  et  colore  nigra  nisi  in  loris  carens ; 

crassitie  paido  minore. 
Bab.  Larat,  ins.  Tenimberensem. 

Obs.  Species  (Uraucalo  cxruleo-griseo  aflfinis,  sed  colore  corporis  cineras- 
centiore  et  remigibus  intus  non  albis  distinguenda. 

27.  A.  TiMORLAOENSis,  Meyer,  in  '  Zeit.  f  die  Ges.  Ornitb.'  1884,  p.  10. 

28.  Graucalus  melanops,  V.  &  H. 

29.  Lalage  m(esta,  Sclater. 

Supra  sericco-nigra  ;  superciliis  hrevibus  et  uropygio  albis ;  alis  nigris, 
tectricihus  minor ibus  et  majoribus  et  secundariis  albo  late  terminatis; 
corpore  subtus,  subalaribus  et  remigum pogoniis  intemis  ad  basin  omninu 


IN   TIMOR-LAUT.  361 


alhis  ;  Cauda  nigra,  rectrtcibus  diMihus  externu  alho  terminatis ;  rostro  ef 
pedihus  mcjris :  long,  tota  G"2,  alee  '6'7,  caudce  3 "3. 
Bab.  Inss.  Tenimberenses. 

Obs.  Affinis  L.  atro-virenti  et  L.  tricolor i,  set!  supercilii^  curtis  albis 
dividenda. 

30.  Artamus  leucogaster,  Val. 

^4.  musschenbrvehi,  Meyer,  loc.  sup.  c.'t. 
Hab.  Larat,  ins.  Tenimberensem. 

Artamus  mttsschenhroeJci,  is  the  name  proposed  by  Dr.  Meyer  for  the 
Timor-laut  Wood-Swallow,  which  has  been  determined  by  Dr.  Sclater  as 
A.  hucoi/aster,  Val.  (P.  Z.  S.  1883,  pp.  51  and  200).  Of  the  Arfamns  from 
Dr.  Meyer's  identical  locality  I  have  in  my  own  collection  three  specimens. 
I  have  examined  carefully  seventeen  others  from  different  localities,  in  the 
very  long  series  in  the  British  Museum  derived  from  ('eh-bcs,  the  Fhihp- 
pines,  ,'iumatra,  JtiYa,'Lon\hock,FloYes,  Timor,  Batjian,  Burn,  Hahnuheira, 
Goram,  Aru,  Batanta,  and  from  N.  Australia.  The  species  in  the  Dresden 
Museum  from  the  underlined  localities  are  admitted  by  Dr.  IMeyer  to 
belong  to  A.  leucogaster.  It  is  impossible  to  .'separate  my  Timor-laut 
skins  from  specimens  collected  in  Zebu  by  the  ChalleiK/er  Expedition, 
and  determined  by  Lord  Tweeddale  (P.  Z  S.,  1877,  pjx  541-515).  The 
colour  in  both  is  absolutely  the  same.  Lord  Tweeddale,  however,  remarks 
on  the  difference  of  dress — "one  in  which  the  upper  plumage  is  of  a 
light  bluish  and  cinereous  colour,  the  other  where  it  is  of  a  more  smoky 
brown  and  bluish  ash.  This  does  not  seem  to  depend  on  sex  ;  for  one  of 
these  exam])les  (Zebu  3G2)  is  mar'.ced  $  ,  while  1  possess  a  Luzon  example 
exactly  similar,  which  Dr.  Meyer  determined  to  be  a  $  .  The  other  Zebu 
example  (No.  370)  is  marked  ?  ,  and  is  in  the  paler  l)luish-grey  attire." 
I  feel  satisfied,  after  cxaiuinirg  the  .specimens  in  tlu;  British  Museum  and 
in  my  own  collection,  that  the  difference  in  coloration  is  one  due  to  age, 
for  in  young  l)iids,  the  plumage  is  lighter  tlian  in  the  adult  state.  Dr. 
Meyer's  observation  tliat  the  dark  inantle  reaches,  in  Timor-laut  S'kins 
only,  just  to  the  root  of  the  tail,  while  in  A.  leucogaster  it  overlaps  by 
about  a  centimetre,  is,  in  as  far  as  the  series  referred  to  enables  an  opinion 
to  be  formed,  one  not  sufficiently  constant  to  support  specific  separation. 
In  several  Timor-laut  s]iecimens  examined,  the  dark  plumage  overlaps  the 
tail  more  than  1  centimetre,  and  even  more  than  in  others  from  difterent 
parts  of  the  Archipelago  which  have  been  hitherto  recognised  as  A. 
leucogaster.  In  skins  of  A.  leucogaster  from  Mysol  and  Macassar,  the 
mantle  is  just  conterminous  with  the  root  of  the  tail.  Really,  however, 
the  absolute  constancy  of  these  measurements  can  be  determined  only  with 
accuracy  in  the  flesh,  for  the  way  in  whicli  the  skin  is  maniimlated  will 
increase  or  diminish  them  by  several  centimetres.  The  same  holds  with 
regard  to  another  cliaracter  given  as  differential — the  greater  amount,  in 
Timor-laut  siK'cimens,  of  white  on  the  rum]i  and  upper  fail-coverts.  In 
my  own  specimens  the  white  on  the  rump  varies  from  22-31  niillim. 
in  loiigtli,  while  in  eight  other  skins  from  different  regions  of  the 
Archipelago  the  range  is  from  26-32  millini.,  giving  in  the  latter  indeed 
a  wider  zone  than  in  those  from  Timor-hint.  In  the  long  series  of 
Briti.sh  Museum  skins,  the  v],lte  tips  of  alt  bat  tlic  tiro  middte  tail-feathers, 
another  of  Dr.  Meyer's  differential  characters,  is  quite  inconstant.  In 
several  Timor-laut  skins  not  only  these  two  tail  feathers,  but  several 
others  of  the  remigcs,  are  without  a  white  band,  while  in  some  exaui))les 
it  is  even  less  than  in  undisputed  A.  leucogaster.  In  younghirdu  the  white 
tips  are  very  ])ronounced,  not  on  the  reniiges  only,  but  on  the  primaries 
and  secondaries  of  the  wing  also.     Tlic  I'liilippine  (Zebu)  birds,  already 


362  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDEBINQS 

referred  to,  have  the  tips  of  the  remiges  quite  as  broad  as  in  those  from 
Timor-Iaut,  In  a  Loiubock  specimen  ("  ex  Stevens  ")  the  tips  of  all  the 
feathers  are  white  ;  a  Batanta  and  a  New-Holland  specimen  have  no  white 
tips  at  all ;  one  from,  Halmaheira  and  one  from  Burn  (both  from  Mr. 
Wallace's  collection)  except  in  one  feather,  have  no  white  on  the  remiges; 
yet  all  of  them  have  been  determined  to  be,  and  are  undoubtedly  A. 
leucoyaster  (Yal.)     [H.  0.  F.] 

31.  DlCRUROPSIS  BRACTEATUS,  Gould. 

32.  Pachycefhala  arctitokqcis,  Sclater,  loc.  cit,  PI.  XIII. 

P.  kehirensis,  Meyer,  op.  sup.  cit. 
P.  riedelii,  Meyer,  op.  su}!.  cit. 
Supra  cinerea,  alls  caudaque  nigris  cinereo  limhatis,  pileo  nucha  et  capitis 
later  ibus  nigris;  subtus  alba,  torque  jugular  i  angusto  nigro  ;  subaluribus 
et  remigum  marginibus  inter ioribus  albis  ;  rostra  et  p)edibus  nigris  :  long, 
tota  5 '5,  alx,  3*0,  catidse  2 '2.     Fem.  Supra  fusca,  in  pileo  rufescens  ; 
alls  nigris  extus  rufo  Umbatis  ;  subtus  alba,  obsolete  nigro  striata. 
Hub.  Larat,  ins.  Tenimberensem. 


Dr.  Meyer,  in  the  paper  referred  to,  has  described  two  new  species  of 
Pachycephala,  whose  names  are  given  above  as  synonyms.  If  he  is  correct 
in  his  determinations  we  have  the  cvirious  fact  that,  notwithstanding  my 
more  thorough  examination  of  a  wider  field,  which  included  the  region 
whence  he  obtained  his  birds,  the  w'hole  series  obtained  by  me  contained 
no  females  of  P.  arctitorquis  and  no  males  of  P.  riedelii  (were  Dr.  Meyer's 
Rpecimens  sexed?);  while  those  who  made  the  collection  examined  by 
Dr.  IMeyer,  obtained  in  Babbar  (an  island  at  no  great  distance  to  the 
W.  of  Yamdena)  females  of  P.  arctitorquis,  and  evidently  no  males  (so 
recognised  by  Dr.  Meyer),  and  females  of  P.  Jicbirerisis  (Meyer),  with- 
out one  of  its  males.  I  dai'y  saw  the  collections  made  in  Timor-laut  by 
the  Amboinese  hunters  making  this  collection,  and  I  feel  coniident  that 
no  species  of  Faclu/cephala — one  of  the  groups  I  am  particularly  in- 
terested in — was  obtained  by  them  which  was  not  also  in  my  collection. 
After  comparing^  Dr.  Mej'er's  descriptions  with  the  long  series  I  have 
of  this  bird,  nearly  all  of  which  Dr.  Sclater  had  before  him  when  writing 
his  original  description,  and  which  contains  birds  in  almost  every  stage 
of  plumage,  from  the  young  bird  to  the  fully  adult,  I  have  little  hesita- 
tion in  affirming  that  P.  arctitorquis,  (  $  Meyer),  from  Timor-laut  and 
Babbar,  is  but  the  immature  male,  and  P.  kebirensis  (Meyer)  the  nearly 
fully  adiiit  female  of  P.  arctitorquis,  in  which  the  colour  of  the  bird  when 
fully  adult  is  black;  while  P.  riedelii  is  a  still  younger /ema/e  of  the 
same  species.  From  this  it  woiild  seem  clear  to  me  that  P.  arctitorquis, 
Scl.,  occurs  in  Babbar  also,  for  the  examples  before  Dr.  Meyer  from  that 
island  were  young  males  and  immature  females,  while  from  Timor-laut 
he  had  adult  males,  immature  males  ( $ ,  Meyer),  and  still  younger 
females  (riedelii,  Meyer).     [H.  O.  F.] 

33.  P.  fusco-flava,  Sclater,  loc.  cit.,  PI.  XXVII. ;  Forbes,  P.  Z.  S.,  1883, 
pi.  588,  PI.  LIII. 

Obs.  Similis  P.  leucogastro,  sed  torque  angusto  distinguenda. 

The  pair  of  these  species  were  obtained  in  Larat,  in  the  first  week  of 
August  1882.  The  iris  is  marked  "reddish  brown  "in  the  male,  and 
"dark  brown"  in  the  female;  the  feet  "blue-black"  in  the  male,  and 
"  lavender-pink  "  in  the  female. 

3i.  DiciEUM  FULGiDUM,  Sclater. 

(Figured  in  Gould's  '  Birds  of  New  Guinea,'  part  16.) 


IN  TIMOR-LAUT.  363 


Supra  nitide  purpurascenti-nigrum ;    subtus   album   coccineo  per/usum ; 
hypochondriis  oUvaceo  mixtis ;  subalaribus  et  remiffum  pogoniis  internis 
a/bis  ;  rostro  et  j)edibus  nigris:  long,  tota  3 '6,  aUe  2'0,  caudce  1"1. 
ffab.  Larat  et  Lutur. 

Obs.  Similis  J),  keiensi  et  D.  ignicolU,  sed  ventre  toto  coccineo  perfuse 
distinctum. 

'J  here  are  two  "  male  "  exami^lcs  of  this  Dicreum  in  the  present  collection 
—one  from  Larat  (1.8.82)  and  one  from  Lutur  (19.9.82).  Both  are 
labelled,  "  Irides  dark  brown ;  legs  and  feet  black." 

35.  Mtzomela  ANNABELL.J;,  Sclatcr ;  fiig.  in  Gould, '  B.  N.  Guin.,'  Pt.  16. 

Sigra ;  capite  cum  gutture  toto  tindiqne  et  dorso  postico  coccineis ;  ventre 
medio  et  remigum  marginibus  externis  stridissimis  olivaceis  ;  subalaribus 
et  remigum  imgoniis  internis  albis ;  rostro  et pedibus  nigris :  long,  tota 
8'5,  aim  2"0,  Cauda;  1"3. 
Hab.  Lutur,  Timor-laut. 

Obs.  Sp.  ad  M.  erythrocephalam  et  species  huic  affincs  adjungenda, 
corpore  coloris  nigro  et  crassitie  minore  insignis. 

The  single  specimen  was  obtained  September  22nd  at  Lutu.  It  is 
marked  "Male:  irides  dark  brown  :  bill  black;  legs  and  feet  dirty  green." 
I  have  named  it  by,  request  of  the  discoverer,  after  his  wife,  who 
accompanied  him  in  his  perilous  travels. 

86.  Stigmatops  salvadorii,  Meyer,  op.  cit. 

Stigmatops  squamata,  Salvad.  Sclater,  P.  Z.  S.,  1883,  p.  198, 
Sectarinia  sp.  ice.  Sclater,  P.  Z.  S.,  1883,  p.  51. 

One  of  the  most  frequently  met  with  birds.  Feeds  at  the  cocoanut  flowers. 
The  [first  instalment  of  the]  collection  contained  two  skins  in  bad  condition 
(marked  "  ?  ")  which  I  thought  might  probably  be  referable  to  a  female  of 
.some  species  of  Nectar inia.  The  [second  instalment]  comprehends  nine 
specimens  of  the  same  bird  of  both  sexes.  It  is  evidently  a  Melipliagine 
bird  of  the  genus  Stigmatojis,  and,  so  far  as  I*  can  tell,  without  actual 
comparison  with  the  types,  inseparable  from  S.  squamata  of  Salvadori. 
This  species  was  discovered  by  Rosenberg  on  Khor  Island  between  the 
Ke  group  and  Ceram-laut,  and  may  therefore  probably  also  occur  in  the 
Tenimber  group  from  which  Khor  lies  not  very  far  north. 

37.  Philemon  timoblaoensis,  Meyer. 

P.  plumigenis,  Sclater,  P.  Z.  S.,  1883,  p.  199. 

Philemon  timorlaoensis  is  the  name  proposed  by  Dr.  Meyer  for  the 
ppecies  designated  P.  plumigenis  by  Sclater  (P.  Z.  S.,  1883,  pp.  51  ik,  195). 
The  Timor-laut  bird  certainly  differs  from  that  from  Ke,  but  the 
differences  are  scarcely  to  be  formulated  in  words.  The  Tenimber  bird 
seems  intermediate  between  the  Buru  and  K6  birds.  Dr.  Gadow,  in  the 
9th  vol.  of  the  Cat.  of  Birds,  has  not  separated  the  species,  nor  has  Mr. 
Sliarpe,  in  the  IGth  part  of  Gould's  "  Birds  of  New  Guinea,"  though  he 
has  expressed  doubts  as  to  their  identity.    [H.  0.  F.] 

38.  ZosTERors  guiseiventris,  Sclater. 

Supra  kete  viridis,  atntulo  periuphtltalmico  distincto  albo  ;  alis  caudaque 
nigricantibus  viridi  limhitis  ;  subtus  pallide  grisea,  in  ventre  medio 
albicantior,  gula  et  crisso  flavis  ;  suhilaribus  et  remigum  marginibus 
internis  albis,  rampiterio  flavido  ;  rostro  p)aJlide  corneo,  pedibus  pallide 
fuscis  ;  long,  tota  4'7,  <d(r.  2'i),  caudie  \1. 

Hah.    Larat,  Lutur,  et  Molu  insulas  Tcnimberenses. 

There  are  sixteen  six-cimens  of  this  apparently  wcm  Zosterops  in  the 


364  A    NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

present  collection,  obtained  at  various  dates   in   the   localities  above 
mentioned.     The  irides  are  noted  as  "  reddish  brown." 

The  species  belongs  to  the  group  of  Z.  aJhiventris  ;  but  appears  to  be 
distinguishable  by  its  greyish  abdomen,  which  is  only  Avhiter  in  tlie 
middle  line. 

.  30.  Gerygone  dorsalis,  Sclatcr. 
Supra  irunnesceuti-castanea,  alts  caudaque  nigris  dorsi  colore  Umhatis, 
pileo  et  nucha  inurino-hrunneis  ;  subtus  alba,  hypochondriis  rufescenti 
lavatis  ;  subalaribus  albis ;  caitdce  rectricibus  subtus  in  pogoniis 
interioribus  nigricantlhus  macula  versus  apicem  alba  prccditis  ;  rostro  et 
pedibus  nigris  :  long,  tota  4'0,  alcB  2'1,  caudce  I'G,  tarsi  0"8, 
$  .     3fari  similis. 

llab.  Larat,  Lut^^r  et  Molu,  insulas  Tenimberenses. 
I  was  rather  uncertain  as  to  the  correct  position  of  this  little  bird, 
which  is  quite  distinct  from  anything  that  I-  am  acquainted  with ;  but 
Count  Salvadori,  to  whom  I  have  sent  a  skin  for  examination,  kindly  tells 
me  it  is  a  Gerygone.  Tlio  bill  is  rather  compressed,  and  the  tarsi  are  long 
and  slender.  The  third,  fourth,  fifth,  and  sixth  primaries  arc  nearly 
equal  and  longest.     The  irides  are  noted  as  black. 

40.  '  Okiolus  decipiens,  Sclater. 

Memcta  decipiens,  Scl.  P.  Z.  S.,  1883. 
Fuscus  fere,  unicolor,  superciliis  albidis,  pileo  nigricanti  striolato  ;  subtus 
paido  dilutior,  gutture  et  cervice  antica  albis,  prcecipue  ad  latera  nigro 
guttulatis ;  pectoris  summi  plumis  quibusdam  nigricanti  striolatis ; 
regione  auricular i  nigricante ;  rostro  et  pedibus  nigris:  long,  tota  11"8, 
alee  0'5,  caudce  5'0. 
Hab.    Larat,  insulam  Tenimberensem. 

Obs.  Similis  31.  bouroensi,  sed  gula  albida  nigro  transversim  guttulata 
et  pectoris  summi  plumis  nigricanti  striolatis  distinguendus. 

Two  specimens  of  this  Mimeta,  marked  "  irides  dark  brown,"  are  in  the 
collection.  They  so  closely  resemble  Philemon  pihimigenis  in  general 
appearancp,  that  I  had  at  first  marked  them  as  of  that  species.  Cf. 
Wallace,  P.  Z.  S.,  1863,  p.  2G,  on  a  similar  case  of  mimicry  in  another 
species  of  this  genus. 

41.  Geocichla  machiki,  H.  0.  Forbes. 

Geocichla  sp.  inc.,  Sclater,  P.  Z.  S.,  1883,  lo3.  sup.  cit. 

The  sjoecies  of  Geocichla  is  an  adult  male,  intermediate  between  Geocichla 
rubiginosa  from  Timor  and  G.  erythronota  from  Celebes.  The  general 
colour  of  the  upper  parts  is  olive-brown,  shading  into  slaty  brown  on  the 
head  and  into  chestnut  on  the  rump  and  upjicr  tail-coverts ;  lores  white, 
car-coverts  mottled  wliite  and  slaty-brown ;  wings  brown ;  lesser  wing- 
coverts  olive-brown,-  broadly  tipjied  with  white ;  innermost  secondaries 
russet-brown,  obscurely  tipped  with  white ;  tail-feathers  russet-brown, 
the  outer  feathers  on  each  side  broadly  tipped  Avith  dull  white ;  chin, 
throat,  and  breast  buffish  white,  the  rest  of  the  under  jiarts  white,  the 
feathers  on  the  flanks  broadly  tipped  with  crescentic  spots  of  black; 
axillaries — basal  half  white,  terminal  half  black  ;  under  wing-coverts — 
basal  half  brown,  terminal  half  white ;  basal  half  of  inner  web  of 
secondaries  and  basal  portion  of  many  of  the  primaries  white ;  upper 
mandible  sooty  grey,  lower  yellow;  irides  ash-brown;  legs, feet, and  claws 
i:)ale  flesh-colour.  Wing,  4j  inches,  tail  3'2,  culmen  l"0o,  tarsus  1-4.  (No. 
in  collection  583  g.) 

I  propose  that  this  new  species  shoiald  bear  the  name  G.  machiki,  as  a 
small  mark  of  remembrance  of  Dr.  Julius  Macliik,  of  Buda  Pesth,  Surgeon- 


IN  TIMOR-LAUT.  365 


Captain  in  the  Dutch  Army,  and  of  appreciation  of  his  extreme  kin.dn«ss 
and  hospitality,  and  of  the  greatest  possible  assistance  rendered  by  him 
to  me  in  Snmatra,  and  more  especially  in  Ambr)ina  to  my  wife  and  myself, 
both  before  and  after  our  return  from  the  Tenimber  Islands.  Dr.  Mfichik 
is  well  known  in  the  Archipelago  for  his  extensive  collections  of  Molusca 
fishes,  snakes,  and  insects.     [H.  O.  F.] 

42.  Geocichla  schistacea,  Meyer,  op.  cit. 

43.  Pitta  vigorsii,  Ged.  fide  Meyer. 

44.  Muni  A  Molucca,  L. 

45.  Erythruka  trichroa,  Kittl. 

46.  Calornis  gularis,  G.  E.  Gr. 

C.  metaUica,  Sclater,  P.  Z.  S.  loc.  sup .  cit. 
C.  circumscripta,  Meyer,  op.  suiD.  cit. 


The  species  of  CaJomis  from  the  Tenimber  Islands  has  been  distin- 
guished from  C.  metaUica  as  a  new  specie.*,  C.  circumscrijita  by  Dr.  Meyer. 
1  have  a  large  series  of  skins  in  my  collection,  and  that  they  belong  to  a 
species  distinct  from  C.  metaUica  is  undoubted,  and,  as  Dr.  Meyer  observes, 
they  can,  when  mixed  up  with  any  number  of  species  of  Calornis,  be  un- 
hesitatingly jjicked  out  by  the  coloration  of  the  throat.  The  throat-plumes 
in  G.  metaUica  are  prominently  longer  and  more  mucronate  than  those  in 
the  Timor-laut  specimens.  The  violet  of  the  mantle,  however,  contrary 
to  the  note  of  Dr.  Meyer,  has  the  blue-green  reflexions  observable  in  V. 
metaUica  quite  distinct  in  most  of  my  specimens,  if  the  eye  be  ''  jDlaced 
between  the  bird  and  the  light "  in  position  A,  as  described  by  Dr.  Gadow 
(P.  Z.  S.  1882,  p.  409),  that  is  with  "the  eye  and  the  light  almost  in  a 
level  witii  the  planes  to  be  examined."  A  species  of  Calornis  discovered 
by  Mr.  Wallace  in  Mysol  (of  w-hich  the  tyjio  is  in  the  British  Museum) 
was  named  C.  (jidaris  by  G.  P.  Gray ;  but  was  considered  by  Count 
Salvadori  (the  label  bearing  the  name  in  his  handwriting)  as  C.  metaUica, 
while  it  remained  unique.  After  comparison  of  this  skin  with  Timor- 
laut  specimens,  the  two  arc  nia/vestionahJi/  identical.  C.  circi(mscri2)ta 
(Meyer)  must,  therefore,  be  considered  henceforth  a  synonym  of  ('.  gularis, 
G.  P.  Gr.,  which  must  now  be  removed  from  being  a  synonym  of  C. 
metaUica  to  sjjecific  rank,  confirming  the  opinion  exiDressed  in  1876  ('  Ibis,' 
p.  46)  by  Mr.  Powdler  Sharpc,  who  says:  "I  must  pronounce  this, 
contrary  to  Lord  Walden's  opinion,  a  very  pood  species,  distinguished  by 
its  purple  throat  and  small  I  ill,  the  cnlmcn  only  measuring  '65  inch,  as 
against  •85  in  (\  viridescens.''  Tliis  measuiemcnt  is  not  the  only  one  by 
Avhicli  the  sjiecies  can  be  distinguished,  for  the  j'lumnge  in  every  specimen 
is  so  constant  that  the  skins  cannot  easily  be  confounded  with  any  other. 
('.  t/ularis  is  slightly  less,  and  more  brightly  metallic — a  more  beautiful 
bird,  in  my  opinion,  even  than  the  true  C.  metaUica;  the  purple  of  the 
tliro.it,  which  is  more  chastely  and  delicately  feathered  than  in  C. 
metuUica,  is  separated  from  the  ])urplo  of  the  back  and  upper  breast  by  a 
narrow  and  verij  hriijht  green  band.  Ihe  total  length  of  the  bird  in  14 
specimens  ranged  from  210-250  niillim.  Count  Salvadori  (P.  Z.  8.,  1878, 
p.  89)  remarks:  "Home  specin:ens  (of  C.  metaUica)  have  Ihe  throat  more 
purplish  than  otliers,  one  from  Mysol  (C.  c/ularis.  Gray)  cannot  be 
."separated  from  others  from  Halmalieira  and  Cape  York."  1  have  not  seen 
any  Halmalieira  s|)ecimens ;  but  the  Cape-York  bird  undoubtedly  differs 
by  tlie  ])urpleon  th(f  breast,  which  is  green  in  C.  i/ufaris  ;  the  green  neck- 
band is  much  broader,  and  the  throat  is  more  markedly  green  and  with- 
out i)urj)le.  It  has,  I  believe,  been  separated  as  C.  purpurasceus,  Salv. 
The  Admiralty-Island  Calornis  is  somewhat  similar  to  C.  gularis,  but  is  at 
25 


366  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

once  distinguishable  by  the  absence  of  purple  on  tlie  back ;  the  head  is 
purple  ;  and  it  is  known  as  C.  purpureiceps.     [H.  O.  F.] 

47.  Caloenis  crassa,  Sclater. 

Obscure  cineracea-viridis  nitore  clialyheo  ;  subtus,  prcecipue  in  ventre,  paulo 
magis  cineracea  ;  aliscaudaqtie  ni(/ris  extus  dorsi  colore  lavat is  ;  remigum 
marginibus  inter ioribus  fuliginosis;  rostro  et  pedibus  nigris ;  cauda 
fere  oequaU  aut  paidum  rotundata :  long,  tota  7'3,  aJct  4'1,  caudca  2'8. 
Fern.  Supra  cineracea,  striis  scaparum  nigris  variegata  ;  alis  caudaque 
fusco  nigris  ;  sribtus  alba  nigro  fiammulata ;  crassitie  fere  eadem. 
Ilab.    Larat,  ins.  Tenimbereusera. 

Obs.     Species  cauda  fere  sequali,  corporc  crasso,  rostro  robusto  ct  colore 
maris  uniformi  notabilis. 

Both  male  (August  1st)  and  female  (August  8th)  arc  marked  "Irides 
dark  brown  ;  bill,  legs,  and  feet  black." 

48.  CoRVUs  LATiROSTiiis,  Meyer,  op.  sup.  cit. 

Corvus  validigsimvs,  Sclater,  loc.  cit. 

49.  EuRTSTOMis  PACiFicus,  Lath,  fide  Meyer,  op.  sup.  cit. 

50.  Cai'RImulgus  macrdrus.     Horsf. 

51.  HiRUXDO  javanica,  Si^arrm. 

Y.  CoLvyiBM. 

52.  Ptilopus  wAllacii,  Or. 

53.  J).  LETTIENSI8,  Sclil.  fide  Mevcr. 

54.  P.  xanthogaster,  Wagl. 

P.  flavooirescens,  Meyer,  op.  sup.  cit. 


The  designation  Ptilop>us  favovirescens  has  been  proposed  by  Dr.  Meyer 
for  the  Timor-laut  Pigeon  determined  by  Dr.  Sclatei*  as  /'.  xantliogaster 
(Wagl.).  The  difference  lies,  he  notes,  in  the  "  Gelbgriinlichgraue"  of  tbe 
liead  and  neck.  From  a  careful  comparison  of  my  own  skins  with  those 
in  the  British  Mu.?eum,  I  feel  confident  that  the  differences  observed  by 
Dr.  Meyer  will  be  found  to  be  those  due  to  age  only.  Very  young  birds 
have  a  grey  band  over  the  forehead,  and  the  rest  of  the  head  with  the 
neck  and  back  nearly  of  the  same  shade  of  green ;  ■with  advancing  age  we 
find  every  shade  of  green  and  yellowish-green  to  Dr.  Meyer's  "  Gelbgriin- 
lichgraue." The  head  of  the  fully  adult  bird  is  purplish- grey,  each 
feather  having  a  pale  yellow  submarginal  crescent  across  it. 

Some  of  tlie  skins  obtained  by  me  differ  as  to  head  and  neck  in  no 
respect  from  specimens  brought  by  Mr.  "Wallace  from  Banda ;  others  have 
the  head  and  neck  of  a  grey  colour  tinctured  with  every  shade  through 
green-Mue  to  yellow,  differing  according  to  the  age  of  the  birds.  I  cannot 
detect  in  the  specimens  I  have,  any  difference  in  breadth  of  the  "  Gelb  der 
Kehle  '*  as  compared  with  Mr.  "Wallace's  specimens ;  nor  is  the  brmst  shield 
constantly  of  one  shade  in  all  the  specimens  I  have  examined.  In  the 
Eanda  example  (of  "Wallace)  it  is  darker  than  any  Timor-laut  siiecimen 
before  me.  In  agreement  with  all  those  in  the  British  ]\Iusenm,  my 
Timor  laut  si)ecimens  have  the  outer  margin  of  the  primaries  and 
Eccondaries  as  in  Salvadori's  description,  "  flavo-marginatis."     [H.  0.  F.] 


55.  Carpophaga  concinna,  "Wall. 

56.  C.  ROSACEA,  Temm. 

57.  jVIyristicivora  bicolor.  Scop. 

58.  Macropygia  timorlaoensis,  Meyer,  oj).  sup.  cit. 

Macropygia  keiensis,  Salv. 

Macropygia  sp.  inc.,  Sclater,  P.  Z.  S.  1883,  loc.  sup.  cit. 


IN  TIMOR-LAUT.  367 


59.  Spilopelia  tigrina,  T.  fide  Meyer,  op.  sup.  cit. 
()0.  Geopelia  maugei,  Temm. 

61.  Chalcophaps  chkysochlora,  Wagl. 

YI.  Galling. 

62.  Megapodics  teniMcerexsis,  Sclater. 

Supra  hriinnescenti-oUvaceus,  in  cervice  magis  cinereus,  in  dorso  postico 
magis  hrunnescens ;  ^^<7et>  suhcristato  interscapulio  concolore ;  stihtus 
cineraceus  olivaceo  tinctus ;  capitis  literalis  et  gulce  pelle  rubra  plumis 
paucis  obsita ;  subalaribus  ventre  concoloribui ;  rostro  Jiavo  ;  tarsis  antice 
nigris  postice  rubris,  digitis  nigris ;  long,  tota  IX'5  alos  9"6,  caiidcB  3"5, 
tarsi  2-8. 
Hub.  Firinun  et  Liitur,  ins.  Tcnimberensem. 

Obs.  Species  i^ediim  colore  ad  .1/.  gedvinkianum  corporis  jDictura  magis 
ad  M.  tumulum  appropinquans. 

There  are  two  specimens  of  this  apparently  new  Megaporle  in  the  collec- 
tion. One  from  Lutur,  Timor-laut,  obtained  September  22nd,  is  marked 
"  Irides  dark  brown  ;  bill  pale  yellow;  legs  in  front  black,  but  front  of 
knees  red,  back  of  logs  red;  feet  black."  The  other,  from  Kirimim,  is 
labelled  "  Iris  brown ;  bill  pale  j'ellow ;  legs  and  feet  red."  But  the 
colours  of  these  last-named  jmrts,  so  far  as  can  be  told  from  the  dry  skins, 
do  not  materially  differ  from  those  of  the  first  specimen ;  and  the  two 
birds  agree  in  plumage,  except  that  the  specimen  from  the  islet  of  Kirimun 
is  rather  more  reddish  on  the  foce. 

A'll.  Grallatores. 

C3.  Orthorhaaiphcs  magnii;ostris,  Geoff. 

64.  Oedicnemis  grallarius.  Lath. 

65.  Charadrics  fui.vus,  Gm. 

66.  iEciALiTis  geoffroyi,  Wagl. 

67.  Lobivanellus  miles,  Bodd. 

68.  TOTANUS  INCANUS,  Gm. 

69.  NUMENIUS  VARIEGATUS,  Scop. 

70.  Ardea  SU.MATRAXA,  Eafflcs. 

71.  A.  NOViE-HOLI,ANDI.E,  Loth. 

72.  IIerodias  alba,  L. 

73.  Demigretta  sacra,  Gm. 

74.  Nycticorax  caledonicus,  Gm. 

75.  PoRPHVRio  melanoiterus,  Temm. 

YIII.  Xatatoues. 

76.  Nettapus  pulchellus,  Gould. 

77.  Dendrocygna  guttata,  ]\IiilI. 

78.  Tadorna  radjah,  Garn. 

79.  Sterna  melanauchen,  T. 

SO.    OnYCIIOPRION  ANiESTlIETUS,  Scop. 

Dr.  Sclater  concludes  his  paper  with  the  following  remarks,  which  I 
rei)roduce,  as  the  recent  discoveries  of  ]Mr.  Kiedel's  collectors  have  not 
materially  modified  tlie  conclusions  arrived  at  by  the  writer  in  1884: 
"  I  will  say  a  few  words  concerning  the  general  character  of  the  avifauna 
of  the  Teiiimber  Islands  so  far  as  it  is  indicated  by  this  collection.  It 
is  quite  evident  that  tlie  jirevaih'ng  facies  of  this  ornis  is,  as  might  have 
been  expected,  predominantly  Papuan.  Of  the  species  included  in  the 
above-given  list,  81  are  mentioned  in  Salvadori's  work.    Of  the  24  new 


368 


A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


species  discovered  by  Mr.  Forbes  all  are  of  Papuan  genera,  and  nearly 
allied  to  known  Papuan  species  except  the  Strix,  which  appears  to  be  a 
diminutive  form  of  an  Australian  type,  and  the  My  lag  r  a,  v;h\c\\  is  nearest 
to  a  Timor  form;  the  Gcocichla  machiki  is  most  nearly  allied  to  a  Timor 
bird.  There  is  also  in  the  collection  one  other  Timor  bird,  Erytlirura 
tricolor,  which  is  not  found  in  New  Guinea  or  the  Moluccas.  1  think, 
therefore,  we  may  fairly  say  tliat  tlie  Tenimberese  Avifauna  is  pre- 
eminently Papuan,  varied  only  by  a  slight  element  from  Timor  (repre- 
sented by  Erythrura  tricolor,  Myidr/rafalvivcntris,  and  the  Geocichia),  and 
by  an  Australian  tinge  shown  by  the  Strix,  and  perhaps  by  Monarcha 
nitidus  being  present  (as  in  the  Aru  Islands)  instead  of  M.  cJailybeo- 
cephalus. 


EKLTCU-MAP  OF  THE  REGION,  SHOWING  THE  GEOGRAPHICAL  KELATIOXS  OF  TEE 

TENIMBER  GROL'P. 
(with    the    kind    PEUMISSION*    OF    THE    COUNCIL   OF    THE    ANTHR0P0L03ICAL 

INSTITUTE.) 

That  tlie  Tenimber  group  would  possess  a  certain  number  of  peculiar 
endemic  forms  was  also  to  be  expected,  from  their  isolated  situation,  and 
the  deep  channel  around  them.  Altogether  these  are  29  [now  30]  in 
number,  namely  the  27  [23]  species  above  described  as  nevv^,  and  two 
Parrots  (^Eos  reticulata  and  Lclectas  riedeli)  previously  known."   [H.  0.  F.] 


IV. — On  the  Collection  o/Keptiles  and  BATRACHIANS/)'o?n  the  Timor-laut 
Islands,  formed  hy  Mr.  H.  O.  Forbes.     By  G.  A.  Boulenger,  F.Z.S. 

(From  Proc.  Zool.  Soc.  London,  June  5, 1883.    PI.  XLI.,  XLII.) 

The  Reptiles  and  Batrachians  collected  by  Mr.  Forbes  in  the  Timor- 
laut  Islands,  and  presented  to  the  British  Museum  by  the  Britisli  As- 
sociation, belong  to  seventeen  species,  which,  with  the  exception  of  two 
new  to  science,  were  already  wtll  known  from  diifercnt  parts  of  the 
Austro-Malayan  sub-region.  The  two  new"  species  are  a  Lizard  of  the 
Australian  genus  Lojjhugnathns,  Gray,  and  a  Snake  of  the  Indian  genus 


IN  TIMOR-LAUT.  369 


Simofes,  D.  &  E.     The  latter  is  the  most  remarkable  discovery,  as  no 
species  of  this  genus  was  known  to  occur  eastwards  of  Java. 
The  following  is  a  list  of  the  species  collected  : — 

KEPTILIA. 
Lacertilia. 

1.  Gecko  verticillatus,  Laur. 

2.  Peripia  mctilata  (Wiegm.). 

3.  Yaranus  indicus  (Daud.). 

4.  Ablepharus  boutonii  (Desj.)  {A.  pcedlophurus,  Wiegm.]. 

5.  Euprepes  rffescens  (Shaw). 
G.  Euprepes  ctanurus  (Less.). 

7.  LyGOSOMA  SilARAGDINUJI  (Less  ). 

8.  Bronchocela  moluccana  (Less.). 

9.  Lophogxathus  maculilabris,  BouI.,  sp.  n. ;  P.  Z.  S.  loc.  sup.  cit., 
P).  XLI. 

Snout  obtuse,  as  long  as  the  distance  between  the  orbit  and  the  pos- 
terior border  of  the  ear.  Nostril  equally  distant  from  the  orbit  and  the 
tip  of  the  snout.  Upper  surface  of  head  covered  with  very  strongly 
keeled  scales.  Dorsal  scales  small,  the  upper  largest,  strongly  keeled, 
all  obliquely  directed  upwards.  Gular  and  ventral  scales  strongly  keeled, 
the  latter  larger  than  the  largest  dorsal  scales.  No  femoral  or  prseanal 
]iores.  Upper  surfaces  olive,  with  blackish  transverse  markings  across 
the  back,  tail,  and  limbs;  ujiper  si;rfiice  of  head  with  three  obsolete 
T)lackish  transverse  bands,  separated  by  light  lines;  a  broad  blackish 
band  from  orbit  to  tympanum,  bordered  inferiorly  by  a  light  band  ex- 
tending to  above  the  fore  limb ;  lips  light-coloured,  variegated  with 
blackish;  lower  surfaces  whitish,  dotted  all  over  with  blackish. 

Two  sijecimens;  the  largest  measures:— 

rail'.im. 

Total  length 388 

From  tip  of  snout  to  vent  .......       98 

„  „  fore  limb     ......       43 

Length  of  head  (to  occiput)         ......       22 

Widtli  of  bead 17 

Fore  limb  .........       46 

Hind  limb 91 

Tail  ...  290 

Ophidia. 

10.  Pythox  reticulatus  (Schn.). 

11.  LlASIS  AMKTHYSTIXUS  (Schu.). 

12.  Enygrus  carinatcs  (Schn.). 

13.  SiMOTES  FORBESi,  Boulcng,  u.  sp. ;  p.  Z.  S.  loc.  sup.  cit.  PI.  XLII. 
Length  of  snout  measuring  twice   the  diameter  of  the  ejc.     Nasal 

'divided;  loreal  slightly  higher  than  broad;  one  prjB-  and  two  post- 
*  oculars ;  temporals  1  +  2 ;  seven  ui^per  labials,  the  third  and  fourth 
entering  the  orbit ;  four  inferior  labials  in  contact  with  anterior  chin- 
f-hields ;  latter,  hinder  part  tliree-tifths  the  length  of  anterior  pair.  The 
portion  of  the  rostral  seen  from  above  is  as  long  as  the  suture  between 
the  internasals  and  the  prefrontals;  latter  considerably  higher  than 
intcrnasals.  Frontal  longer  than  its  distance  from  the  tip  of  the  snout, 
as  long  us  parietals.  Scales  in  17  rows.  Ventrals  sliglitly  keeled  on  the 
sides,  155  or  1G5;  anal  entire;  subcaudals  45.    Upper  surfaces  greyish 


370  A   NATURALIST'S   WANDERINGS 

brown,  the  borders  of  the  scales  darker;  head  with  the  ordinary  sym- 
metrical dark  markings;  the  inner  border  of  the  seventh  lonRitudinal 
series  of  scales,  counted  on  each  side  from  the  gastrosteges,  darker,  thus 
forming  two  fine  vertebral  lines  separated  from  each  other  by  three  rows 
of  scales;  belly  yellowish,  each  ventral  shield  with  a  brown  spot  near 
the  lateral  edge,  these  spots  more  or  less  confluent  into  a  dark  streak, 
separated  from  the  dorsal  brown  colour  by  a  pure  yellowish  streak  of 
equal  width ;  in  one  of  the  two  specimens  the  ventrals  become  gradually 
entirely  brown  towards  the  posterior  part  of  the  body,  except  the  lateral 
outer  streak,  which  remains  pure  yellowish.  Head  and  body  30i  centim. ; 
tail  58  millim. 

14.  Dendrophis  ruNCTULATUS  (Gray). 

15.  Chrysopelea  rhodopleueon  (Eeinw.). 

ATRACHIA. 

IG.  Rana  PAPUA,  Less. 


V. —  On  the  CoLEOPTERors  Insrcts  collected  hj  Mr.  H.  0.  Forbes  in  the 
Timor-limt  Islands.     By  Chas.  0.  AYaterhouse,  F.Z.S. 

(From  Proc.  Zool.  Soc.  London,  April  1884,  p.  213,  PI.  XVI. 

The  number  of  species  of  Coleoptera  collected  by  Mr.  Forbes  in  the 
Timor-laut  Islands  is  twenty-nine.  Of  these  the  following  deserve 
special  notice  on  account  of  their  geographical  distribution  : — 

1st.  Biaphoetes  rugosus,  a  new  genus  and  species  of  Staphylinidse,  which 
Mr.  David  Sharpe  informs  me  he  possesses  from  Java. 

2nd.  Cyphogastra  arif/ulicoUis  (from  Larat),  a  sj^ecies  of  Buprestida),  only 
previously  known  from  Banda. 

3rd.  Cyphofjastra  sp>lendens  (from  Maru),  a  new  species  closely  allied  to 
the  preceding. 

4th.  Archetypus  rugosus,  a  new  species.  This  genus  of  Longicorns,  of 
which  there  was  only  one  species  previously  known,  occurs  in  Waigiou, 
Dorey,  and  Aru. 

5th.  Felargoderus  rufjosus.  Another  new  Lougicorn  closely  allied  to  P. 
arouensis. 

6th.  Kemophas  forbesii.  A  third  new  Longicorn  nearly  allied  to  N.  grayi 
from  Amboina. 

Carabid^. 

Catascopus  amcenus,  Chaud. 

Two  specimens  which  may  perhaps  be  merely  varieties  of  this  species. 
They  are,  however,  darker  in  colour  than  any  in  the  British-Museum 
collection,  being  of  an  obscure  olive-asneous,  shading  into  dark  purple  at 
the  sides  of  the  elytra. 

Hah.     Maru. 

Staphyltnid^. 

DiAPHCETEs,  Waterbouse. 

General  characters  of  Stap)hylinus,h\\\.  with  tlie  smaller  than  is  usual  in 
that  genus.  Labial  palpi  robust,  with  three  visible  joints;  the  first  and 
second  short,  the  apical  one  very  large  and  cup-shaped.    The  maxillie 


IN   TIMOR-LAUT.  371 


are  very  broad,  tbe  inner  lobe  a  little  longer  than  broad  and  densely 
covered  witli  hair;  the  outer  lobe  produced  a  little  beyond  the  inner  one, 
the  apex  with  dense  matted  hair,  with  four  or  five  stiff  bristles  on  the 
outer  side.  Basal  joint  of  the  maxillary  palpi  short ;  the  second  and  third 
stout,  about  twice  as  long  as  broad,  narrowed  at  t'\e  base:  the  ajDical 
joint  narrower  than  the  preceding,  acuminate  at  the  apex.  Tbe  labrum 
about  twice  as  long  as  broad,  membranous,  the  middle  of  the  front 
margin  very  deeply  incised,  fringed  with  stiff  liair,  and  with  some  long 
stiff'  bristles  arising  from  behind  the  margin.  The  anterior  angles  of  the 
thorax  are  very  much  directed  downwards  and  are  rather  obtuse,  and  arc 
not  visible  when  view'ing  the  insect  from  above,  in  which  position  the 
thorax  has  a  nearly  circular  outline.  The  under  rcfiexed  shining  margins 
parallel  as  far  as  the  front  angles.  Intermediate  coxa3  slightly  separated. 
Tarsi  rather  slender. 

DiAPHCETES  nuGOSUs,  Waterliouse.  P.  Z.  S.  loc.  sup.  cit.  PL  XVI. 
Fig.  1. 

Nearly  black:  sparingly  clothed  with  pubescence,  whach  is  chiefly 
brown,  but  on  the  shoulders  of  the  elyti'a,  the  basal  segment  of  the 
abdomen,  and  the  margin  of  the  penultimate  segment,  and  on  the  tibife  is 
golden.  Head,  thorax,  and  elytra  densely  and  very  strongly  punctured, 
the  punctures  on  the  disk  of  the  thorax  having  a  tenciency  to  run 
together  longitudinally.  The  punctuation  of  the  abdomen  is  much  less 
strong  and  less  close.  Head  a  little  broader  than  long,  about  two  thirds 
the  width  of  the  thorax ;  the  cheek  behind  each  eye  is  much  less  than  the 
length  of  the  eye,  the  ]DOsterior  angle  rounded.  Thorax  rounded  at  the 
sides  and  behind;  in  the  middle  of  the  base  there  is  a  short  smooth  spot. 
Elytra  as  long  as  the  thorax,  but  distinctly  broader,  with  an  indication 
of  a  sutural  stria.  Legs  pubescent,  the  middle  tibiae  beset  Avith  small 
blackish  spines  ou  the  outer  side.     Length  G  lines. 

Ilah.  Larat. 

P.\SSALID.E. 

Leptaulax  timoriensis,  Perch. 

The  specimens  in  the  British  ]\Iuseum  Collection  are  from  India, 
Philippine  Is.,  Java,  Amboina,  Celebes,  &c. 
llah.  Larat. 

DvNASTIDiE. 

OiiYCTES  itHiNocEROs,  Linn. 

Found  in  all  the  neighbouring  islands. 

llab.  Maru. 

HoKoxoTus  DEiLOPHUs,  Sharp. 

This  species  was  described  from  the  Philippine  Islands.  The  speci- 
mens found  by  ilr.  Forbes  are  small  males,  but  do  not  differ  materially 
from  the  Philippine  examples. 

Hub.  Maru  and  Larat. 

BUPRESTID-E. 

Cyphogastra  ANGiTLicoLLis,  Dejr. 

This  species  was  descrihed  from  lianda.  Tlio  specimen  before  me  from 
I^arat  agrees  well  with  examples  fiom  Panda,  but  the  copper  colour  on 
the  suture  of  the  elytia  does  not  extend  quite  to  the  scutellum. 

Cyphogastra  splendens,  Watcrhouse.  P.  Z.  S.  loc.  sup  cit.  PI.  XVI. 
Fig.  2. 

V^ery  close  to  C.  untjuUcolUs,  and  of  the  fame  form,  but  with  a  different 


372  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

distribution  of  colour.  The  thorax  is  briglit  coppery,  with  more  or  less 
{Tolden  green  on  the  disk.  The  elytra  have  the  dorsal  region  very  dark 
steel-blue  (appearing  almost  black);  this  blue  colour  making  an  elongate 
triangular  imtch  (common  to  botli  elytra),  broadest  at  the  base,  and 
narrowing  posteriorly  terminates  at  about  one-third  from  the  apex;  next 
there  is  on  each  elytron  a  broad  oblique  coppery  red  stripe  (margined  on 
its  inner  side  by  golden  green),  commencing  on  the  shoulder,  extending 
to  near  the  apex  (where  it  touches  the  suture),  but  then  turned  suddenly 
to  t.'ie  lateral  margin  of  the  elytron ;  the  side  of  the  elytron  (from  below 
the  shoulder  to  where  it  meets  the  turn  of  the  coppery  stripe)  is  dark 
blue  :  the  extreme  apex  is  blue  black.  Length  17j  lines. 
Hub.  Maru. 

ELATERIDa;. 

Adelocera  cincta,  Candoze. 

The  specimen  before  me  agrees  well  with  the  description  given  (C.  R. 
Soc.  Ent.  Belg.  1878,  p.  lii)  of  tjis  species  from  Sumatra.  The  allied 
species  has  a  wide  ran_e. 

Ilab.  Maru. 

BOSTRICHID^. 

BosTRiciius  ^QUALis,  Watcrhousc.  P.  Z.  S.  loc.  sup.  cit.  PI.  XYI. 
Fig.  3. 

Elongate,  parallel,  convex,  shining;  black,  with  the  elytra  and  legs 
obscure  pitcby,  antennae  paler.  Head  densely  and  finely  granular;  the 
epistomx  less  opaque,  closely  and  finely  puuctiired.  Thorax  with  the 
basal  half  parallel,  very  convex ;  the  front  half  obliquely  narrowed 
anteriorly,  sloping  down,  with  six  teeth  on  each  margin,  two  anterior  pair 
slightly  porrect,  the  space  between  them  emarginate.  The  surface  pos- 
teriorly is  marked  with  moderately  large,  deep  punctiires,  which  are 
irregularly  placed,  the  intervals  irregularly  and  extremely  finely  and 
rather  sparingly  punctured  ;  all  the  front  part  is  asperate.  The  jiosterior 
angles  very  slightly  couically  produced  and  diverging.  Elytra  of  the 
same  width  a^  the  thorax,  scarcely  broader  posteriorly,  very  abrujitly 
deflexcd  at  the  apex ;  deeply  and  strongly  punctured,  the  punctures 
rather  close  together,  placed  irregularly  near  the  suture,  but  having 
towards  the  sides  a  tendency  to  form  lines ;  the  interspaces  smooth  and 
shining,  less  than  the  diameter  of  the  punctures  (except  here  and  there  in 
the  longitudinal  direction,  when  the  intervals  are  equal  to  the  diameter 
of  the  punctures)  ;  at  rather  remote  intervals  very  minute  punctures  may 
be  seen.  At  the  upper  part  of  the  posterior  declivity,  on  each  elytron, 
are  two  short,  scarcely  noticeable  cost?e;  the  extreme  apex  is  slightly 
refiexed,  dull.  The  first  joint  of  the  club  of  the  antennae  is  a  little  longer 
than  bro^ld,  the  second  as  long  as  broad,  the  third  elongate- ovate.  The 
anterior  angles  of  the  metasternum,  and  the  metasternal  epipleura  are 
densely  and  very  finely  granular.  The  abdomen  is  closely  and  fine  punc- 
tured, and  very  delicately  pubescent.  The  tar.-i  arc  not  very  long  as 
compared  with  some  of  the  species  of  this  genus.     Length  5  lines. 

Hab.  Maru. 

Tenebrionid^. 
Opatrum,  sp. 

A  species  closely  resembling  the  African  0  micans,  Gevm.,  and  perhaps 
identical  and  introduced. 
Hab.  Maru. 


IN  TLMOli-LAUT.  373 


Bradymerus,  sp. 

A  species  of  this  difficult  genus,  which  I  am  unable  to  determine. 

JIab.  Maru. 

ToxicuM  GAZELLA,  Fabr. 

Tlie  examples  agree  well  with  specimens  of  this  species  in  the  British 
Sluseum  from  Malacca. 

Bab.  Maru. 

Toxic UM  quadricorne,  Fabr. 

The  specimens  in  the  British  Mus3um  are  from  Penang,  Java. 
Philippine  Is.,  and  Borneo. 

J/ab.  Maru. 

Amaryc.mus,  sp. 

A  single  species  of  this  very  difficult  genus,  which  I  cannot  determine. 

Nab.  Maru. 

Pediris  subopacus,  Waterhouse.    P.  Z.  S.  loc.  sup.  cit. 

Closely  allied  to  P.  (Nydobates)  salciger,  Boisd.,  but  less  shining 
Entirely  black  ;  the  head  much  more  closely  and  rather  more  strongly 
))imctured  than  in  P.  s^nlri<jer,  especially  on  the  vertex.  Thorax  slightly 
shming  only  in  the  middle :  the  impression  on  each  side  of  the  middle 
much  less  marked  than  in  P.  sulclger,  the  punctuation  more  distinct. 
Elytra  somewhat  dull ;  the  strife  nearest  to  the  suture  very  lightly  im- 
pressed (except  at  the  extreme  apex)  ;  the  lateral  ones  deeper,  but  much 
less  so  than  in  P.  siikiger ;  the  fir.st  three  interstices  flat,  the  lateral  ones 
A'eiy  slightly  arched,  much  less  than  in  P.  sidciger. 

Length  10  lines. 

JIab.  Maru. 

CURCULIOXID^. 

Orthorrhinus  l^tus,  Saund.  &  Jekel. 

The  type  of  this  species  is  from  Kew  Hebrides. 

Jlah.  Maru. 

Sphenoihorus  obscurus,  Boisd.  , 

A  wirk'ly  distributed  species. 

II(tb.  Larat. 

PRioNiD.a;. 

Archltypus  castaneus,  "Waterhouse.  P.  Z.  S.  loc.  sup.  cit.  Pi.  XVI. 
Fig.  4. 

Dark  chestnut-brown,  the  head  and  mandibles  inclined  to  black ;  the 
legs  and  abdomen  pitchy  yellow.  Mandibles  nearly  as  long  as  the  head, 
very  robust,  convex,  strongly  punctured;  on  the  inner  side,  and  the 
cpistoma  clothed  with  fulvous  hair.  Head  shining  above,  dull  at  the 
sides,  with  a  longitudinal  impressed  line  in  the  middle ;  Avith  some 
strong  punctures  above,  rugose  at  the  sides.  Thorax  wider  than  the 
head;  as  its  broadest  part  (just  before  the  anterior  angles)  a  little  more 
than  twice  as  broad  as  long,  narrowed  posteriorly,  shining;  the  disk  flat, 
moderately  strongly  but  not  closely  punctured,  with  a  smooth  spot  in  the 
middle;  the  sides  sloping  down;  tht;  shining  surface  of  the  disk 
continued  down  the  fide  in  a  triangular  shape  to  near  the  margin  ;  the 
rest  of  the  side  impressed,  dull  and  densely  punctured.  Scutelluin 
smooth.  Elytra  at  the  base  a  little  broader  than  tlie  base  of  the  thorax, 
gradually  widened  posteriorly  for  two-thirds  tiieir  length,  and  then  again 
narrowed,  the  ajiex  broad  and  obtusely  rounded  ;  shining,  strongly  and 
moderately  clo.'^ely  punctured,  except  near  the  scutellum,  where  the 
punctuation  is  very  delicate.  Each  elytron  has  a  tine,  slightly  oblique 
raised  line  about  tno  middle,  commencing  within  the  shoulder  and  not 


374  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINQS 

cxfending  to  the  npex.     Submtntum  very  closely  and  very  coarsely 
rugose. 

Length  IGi  lines. 

Hah.  Maru. 

Cerambycid-e. 

Pachydissus  noLOSERicEus,  Fabr. 

Occurs  in  many  of  the  neighbouring  islands. 

Hah.  Maru. 

DiatojIOCEphala  bachymerum,  Pascoe. 

The  specimens  of  this  species  in  the  British  Museum  are  from  Celebes 
and  Waigiou. 
Ilah.  Larat. 

Lamiid^. 

Tmesisternus  glaucus,  Pascoe  ? 

I  am  not  surs  of  the  identity  of  Mr.  Forbes's  specimen  with  the  species 
described  by  Mr.  Pascoe.     It  has  more  yellow  colour  on  the  abdomen. 
Hah.  ]\raru. 

Pelaegoderus  RUGOsrs,  Waterbousc.    P.  Z.  S.  loc.  sup.  cit. 

Nearly  black;  head  coarsely  rugose,  with  sandy  yellow  pubescence 
lound  and  beneath  the  eyes.  Basal  joint  of  the  antennae  very  rugose, 
not  much  narrowed  at  its  base.  Thorax  rugose,  rather  dull,  with 
scarcely  any  trace  of  lateral  spine,  sparingly  puliescent :  the  pubescence 
forming  a  narrow  sandy  line  on  each  side  of  the  middle.  Elytra  with 
the  basal  half  rather  strongly  punctured,  those  at  the  base  generally 
marked  by  a  shining  graTiixle ;  the  posterior  half  is  more  closely  and 
more  rugosely  punctured,  'the  basal  half  and  the  sides  are  rather 
closely  marked  with  irregular  small  spots  of  sandy  pubescence,  but  at 
about  one  quarter  from  the  base  there  is  near  the  suture  an  oblique  bare 
patch.  A  little  behind  the  middle  there  is  a  lather  ]arf>e  oblique  bare 
patch,  which  extends  from  the  side  to  the  suture  ;  and  behind  this  there 
is  a  patch  of  pale  sandy  pubescence,  not  quite  touching  the  side,  but 
reaching  the  suture  and  the  apex.  The  apex  of  each  elytron  is  obliquely 
truncate,  the  outer  angle  obtuse. 

Length  18  lines. 

Hah.  Larat. 

This  species  is  very  close  to  P.  arouensis,  Th.,  but  is  more  robust,  much 
more  rugosely  sculptured  on  the  head  and  thorax  ;  and  the  basal  joint  of 
the  antenna;  is  Itss  narrowed  at  the  base  and  more  rugose. 

Nemophas  forbesi,  Watcrhouse.  P.  Z.  S.  loc.  sup.  cit.  PI.  XVI. 
Fig.  5. 

Black,  with  the  elytra  bright  steel-blue;  the  thorax  entirely  clothed 
with  sandy  yellow  pile ;  the  eljtra  with  numerous  more  or  less  inter- 
rupted bands  of  reddish  ochreous  pubescence. 

Length  17-20  lines. 

This  species  is  close  to  N.  grayil,  Pascoe,  but  has  no  trace  of  blue 
colour  in  the  head  and  antennae.  The  thorax  is  entirely  covered  with  the 
yellow  pile,  with  no  black  at  the  base.  The  bands  of  the  elytra  are 
more  numerous,  generally  about  seven,  and  these  are  more  irregular. 
And  lastly,  the  sterna,  epimera,  and  the  basal  segments  of  the  abdomeu 
are  more  or  less  clothed  with  reddish  pubescence. 

Huh.  Maru  and  Larat. 

Batoceea  rubus,  Fabr.,  var.  ? 

The  si:>ecimen  from  Larat  is  a  little  larger  than  B.  rubies  usually  is, 
and  has  the  scntcllum  clothed  with  fulvous  instead  of  white  pubescence. 


IN   TIMOR- LAUT. 


375 


COPTOPS  FUSCA,  Oliv.  ? 

A  single  specimen  from  Maru  which  I  cannot  separate  from  the 
African  C.  fusca  and  which  is  therefore  doubtless  introduced. 

Symphyletes  pedicornis,  Fabr. 
An  Australian  species  introduced. 
Bab.  Maru. 

Praoketha  pleuricacsta,  Piiscoe. 

I  can  see  no  difference  between  the  specimen  brought  by  Mr.  Forbes 
and  that  described  by  Mr.  Pasco2  from  Port  Albany,  N.  Australia. 
Hah.  Maru. 

Chrysomelid^. 
Phyllocharis  cyanipes,  Fabr. 

This  species  occurs  in  Australia,  New  Guinea,  Buru,  &c. 
Hah.  JIaru. 


V. — On  the  Lepidoptera  collected  hy  Mr.  H.  0.  FoRBES  in  the  Llands  of 
Timor-laid.     By  Arthur  G.  Butler  F.L.S.,  F.Z.S.,  &c. 

(From  Proc.  Zool.  Soc.  London,  June  1883,  Pl.  XXKYIII.) 

Twenty-three  species  of  Lepido])tera  were  obtained  by  Mr.  Forbes  in  his 
expedition  to  Timor-laut ;  one  of  these,  however,  is  apparently  a  Micro- 
Lei)idopteron,  so  much  rubbed  and  broken  as  to  be  uurecogisable ;  all 
the  Moths,  in  fact,  are  in  very  poor  condition,  forming  a  marked  contrast 
in  this  respect  to  the  Butterflies,  which  are  well  preserved. 

The  following  Table  will  give  an  idea  of  the  geographical  relations  of 
the  named  species  in  this  collection  : — 


Species  of  Timor-Laut. 

Nearest  allied  species. 

Typical  locality 
the  latter. 

of 

Chanapa  sacenlos. 

Chanapa  lewinii. 

North  Australia. 

Culliiiltpa  vi.senda. 

Calliplcea  hyems. 

Timor. 

Salnturu  luratensis. 

Salatura  arteiiice. 

Java. 

Hypoliiunas  forbesii 

Hypnlitniias  polymeria. 

Aru. 

Precis  expaiisa. 

Precis  tinioreusis. 

Timor. 

Catochrysop.s  iiatalu. 

Catochrysops  patala. 

Massuri. 

Larapidfs  a'lianus. 

Lampides  :eliaiius. 

Kast  India. 

Delias  tiinoreiisis. 

Delias  timorensis. 

'J'imor. 

Terias  niaroensis. 

Terias  oxcavata. 

Kangra. 

'i'erias  laratensis. 

Terias  1  if  nana. 

Lifu. 

Api)ia8  alljina. 

Appias  albina. 

Ambuina. 

Appias  elciuentina.      ^ 

Appias  Clementina. 

Amboiiia. 

IJeleiiois  coiisanguis. 

Ikdenois  pitys. 

Timor. 

Tapilio  nberrans. 

Papilio  liris. 

Timor. 

Papiliu  iiKipinatus. 

Papilio  adrastus. 

Bandn,  New  Guinea.     | 

Uiluilia  casiiariiiai  ■? 

Diludia  casuarina). 

Sydney. 

Krclieia  diibia. 

Ercheia  diibia. 

liockhampton. 

T.aj^optera  lionesta. 

I^af^Dptera  lionesta. 

East  Indies. 

Lyssidiu  f^oldiei. 

Ijvssidia  goldiei. 

New  Guinea. 

Pinacia  inolylKlrenalis. 

Pinacia  molybdajnalis. 

Batavia. 

Ilymeiiia  l'a.sei;ilis. 

Ilymenia  fascialis. 

Japan. 

376  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


From  the  obove,  however,  we  may  deduct  the  wide-ranging  species 
CcJochrysops  paUda,  Lami^ldes  cdiunus,  Lafioptera  lioneda,  and  Hyinenia 
fascialifi,  which  leaves  us  5  Timor  types,  8  Australian,  2  Aniboina,  2  New 
Guinea,  1  Aru,  1  Lifu,  2  Javan,  1  Indian.  The  last  of  these,  liowever,  is 
equally  characteristic  of  the  Malayan  fauna,  as  al?o  is  that  from  Poly- 
nesia ;  these  two  forms,  therefore,  may  be  regarded  as  doubtful,  which 
will  leave  the  relative  projiortions  of  the  species  as  follows : — Indo- 
Malayan  2,  Austro-Malavan  10,  Australian  3.  The  only  surprising 
fact  in  this  distribution  is  the  preponderance  of  Timor  over  Aru  or 
^ew-Guinea  forms,  the  species  characteristic  of  that  island  being  only 
equalled  by  those  from  Aru,  New-Guinea  and  Amboiua  combined. 

Ehopalocera. 

NyMPHALID2E. 
EUPLCEIN^. 

1.  Chanapa  sacerdos,  Butler ;  loc.  sup.  cit.  PL  XXXYIII.  F>g.  7. 
Nearly  allied  to   C.  hwinii  of  Australia;    the  wings  much  blacker, 

the  primaries  of  the  male  velvet-black,  the  white  spots  on  the  primaries 
decidedly  larger,  the  sericeous  brand  on  the  male  of  twice  the  length : 
secondaries  with  the  discal  series  of  white  spots  more  regular,  nearer 
to  outer  margin,  and  not  notched  as  in  C.  Uivinii ;  the  submarginal 
spots  clearer  and  arranged  more  regularly.  Expanse  of  wings,  $  78  mm., 
?  71  mm. 
Larat. 

2.  Callipl(EA  visenda,  Butler;  lo:.  sup.  cit.  PI.  XXXYIII.  Fig.  1. 
Allied  to   C.  hyems  (arishe,  Fid.)  from  Timor,  but  much  darker;  the 

primaries  are  of  the  male  velvet-black  ;  the  white  spots  on  the  jjrimaries 
larger,  especially  the  two  last  in  the  series,  the  last  of  all  being  the 
largest  spot  in  the  series  ;  submarginal  dots  wanting  on  the  upper  surface 
of  primaries,  but  present  on  the  secondaries,  which  are  not  bordered 
with  pearl-white  but  with  greyish  brown;  the  discal  spots  forming  a 
sinuous  white  band  well  separaterl  from  the  margin,  somewhat  as  in  the 
preceding  species;  the  usual  whitish  costa  and  creum-coloured  sexual 
patch.     Expanse  of  wings,  6i  mm. 

Maru  Island. 

This  is  one  of  the  prettiest  species  in  the  genus,  and  is  doubtless  a 
copy  of  the  preceding  species. 

3.  Salatuea  laeatensis,  Butler ;  loc.  sup.  cit.  PI.  XXXYIII.  Fig.  5. 
Allied  to  S.  artenice,  Cramer  of  Java ;  but  the  subapical  white  fascia 

decidedly  broader;  no  central  white  markings  on  the  secondaries;  the 
veins  on  the  under  surface  of  these  wings  less  distinctly  bordered  with 
white.     Expanse  of  wings  70-7-1. 
Larat. 

NyMPHALINiE. 

4.  Hypolimnas  foebesii,  Butler ;  loc.  sup.  cit.  PI.  XXXYIII.  Fig.  4. 

$  .  Allied  to  //.  pohjmena  from  Aru :  velvet-black  shot  with  purple ; 
primaries  with  the  pattern  of  //.  vclleda  $  ,  but  darker,  and  with  all  the 
vhite  spots  of  double  the  size ;  the  secondaries  differ  from  //.  polymeria 
in  having  a  series  of  hastate  brown  dashes  along  the  internervular  folds 
from  just  beyond  the  middle  of  the  broad  cream-coloured  external  area^ 


IN  TIMOR-LAUT.  ^11 


through  the  centre  of  which  a  series  of  white  spots  can  be  dimly  seen. 
Expanse  of  wings  80  mm. 

Larat. 

This  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  species  in  the  genus ;  it  bears  a  vague 
resemblance  to  H.  alhula  of  Timor,  which,  however,  belongs  to  the 
B.  anomala  group. 

5.  Precis  expansa,  Butler. 

o  .  Allied  to  P.  timorensis  of  "Wallace,  from  which,  however,  it  differs 
in  its  clearer  fulvous  colouring  above,  the  blackish  colouring  of  the  external 
area  being  confined  to  the  apex,  the  paler  coloration  of  the  under  surface, 
its  broader  and  less  produced  primaries,  and  the  less  pronounced  caudal 
angle  to  the  secondaries.  Wings  above  tawny,  with  black  markings  and 
bluish-centred  ocelli,  as  in  P.  erifjone  of  Java  (Cramer,  Pap.  Exot.  i.  pi. 
G2.  E,  F),  but  the  white  marldngs  of  that  species  replaced  by  a  slightly 
paler  tint  of  tawny  than  the  ground  colour  ;  under  surface  as  in  P.  en'f/one. 
Expanse  of  wings  52-51  mm. 

Earat. 

AVhy  the  P.  eriqone  group  has  been  referred  to  Jimonia  and  the 
scarcely  differing  P.  natalica  to  Precis  it  would,  I  think,  be  hard  to 
explain.    I',  antiijcne  and  P.  natalica  seem  very  closely  allied  species. 

Lyc^nid^. 

G.  Catochrvsops  pat.\la. 

Li/ccena  pafa/a,  Kollar,  Hiigel's  Kaschmir,  iv.  2,  p.  419  (1848). 
(^ .  Maru  Island. 

l3oes  not  differ  from  Indian  specimens  exceiyang  in  the  slightly  v.hiter 
tint  of  the  under  surface. 

7.  LaJIPIDES  iELIANUS. 

hebjjcriu  celianuk,  Fabricius,  Ent.  Syst.  iii.  1,  jx  280.  n.  79  (1793) 
Larat. 

Does  not  dififer  from  Indian  specimens  excepting  in  its  slightly  inferior 
expanse  of  Mings;  in  colouring  and  pattern  it  perfectly  agrees. 

PAPILIONIDffl. 
PIERINJ5. 

8.  Delias  timorensis,  Boisduval ;  loc.  sup.  cit.  PI.  XXXVIII.  Fig.  6. 

Pieris  timorensis,  Boisduval,  Sj).  Gun.  Lup.  i.  p.  459.  n.  cO  (183G). 

Larat. 

Most  nearly  allied  to  D.  vishm  of  Moore  from  Java  (with  which  species 
it  was  associated  by  Wallace).  It  differs  in  its  su])erior  size,  tho 
narrower  black  area  of  the  ujiper  surface,  the  deeply  sinuated  inner  edge 
of  tlie  black  area  on  the  ])rimaries,  the  ai)ifal  series  of  spots  niucli 
smaller,  the  fifth,  as  lioisduval  says,  "  tres  petite  ct  ponctiforme,"  whereas 
in  I),  vislinu  this  is  tlie  case  witii  a  sixth  s])ot  not  present  in  J),  timorensis : 
primaries  itulow  with  the  basal  pale  area  cuneifoj-ni  (not  angular),  pure 
lemon-yeilow  within  and  ju.st  below  the  cell,  otherwise  poarl-wlute  ("la 
base  gris-l)lancliatre  saupoudree  de  jaune  pur,"  Boisd.):  secondaries  with 
only  the  basi-abdominal  third*   brilliant  golden  yellow;    suffused  at 

*  Tho  carelessness  of  Boisdnval's  dosriiptinn  at  tiiis  point  prnh;i1)ly  misled 
"Wallace  ;  lie  says  : — "  La  nioitie'  antc'riciin;  d'tiii  hciiu  jatuic  dr  chnmic."  On 
the  other  hand,  the  yellow  of  D.  cii<hiiu  hu:i  a  deoidcilly  dull  creamy  ajipear- 
aiice. 


378  A   NATURALIST' 8    WANDERINGS 

its  inferior  extremity  with  bright  orange ;  the  inner  edge  of  this  area 
straight,  not  angiilatcd  as  in  1).  vish nu ;  tho  snbmargiiial  red  lunulcs 
narrower,  of  a  more  carmine  tint,  the  terminal  one  not  expanded,  further 
from  the  outer  margin,  yet  not  touching  tlic  yellow  area :  there  are  in 
fact,  as  Boisduval  says,  "  sej)t  lunules,"  and  not  six  lunules  and  two 
spots  as  in  D.  vlshnu. 

9.  Terias  maboensis,  Butler;  loc.  sup.  cit.  PI.  XXXYIII.  Tig.  2. 

?  .  Nearly  allied  to  T.  excavata  of  Moore,  from  India,  but  of  a  decidedly 
deeper  yellow  (bright  sulphur)  than  the  female  of  that  sj^ecies  :  the  inner 
edge  of  the  external  border  decidedly  arched,  convex,  not  concave,  towards 
the  costa,  the  sinuation  upon  the  median  interspaces  not  so  deep  and 
more  oblique  (as  in  T.  sari)  ;  the  discal  markings  on  the  under  surface  of 
secondaries  less  defined  and  arranged  in  a  much  less  irregular  series. 
Expanse  of  wings  42  mm. 

Maru  Island. 

10.  Teuias  laratensis,  Butler ;  loc.  sup.  cit.  PL  XXXVIII.  Fig.  3. 

$ .  Nearly  allied  to  T.  lifuana ;  above  most  like  my  "  Japanese 
Trias,"  fig.  10  (Trans.  Ent.  Soc.  1880,  ])1.  vi.),  but  with  less-pointed 
primaries  and  narrower  apical  border ;  it,  however,  belongs  to  the  T.- 
ofSLope  group,  the  primaries  below  being  marked  with  a  curved  series  of 
three  subapical  re  1-brown  spots  ;  other  markings  much  as  usi;al,  all  well 
defined ;  the  discal  series  of  secondaries  forming  a  nearly  straight  lino 
between  the  first  subcostal  and  second  median  branches.  Exjianse  of 
wings  39  mm. 
Larat. 

11.  Appias  albina. 

Fleris  alhina,  Boisduval,  Sj).  Gen.  Lep.  i.  jx  480,  n.  G2  (1836). 
$ .  ilaru  Island. 

A  small  example ;  tho  species  was  originally  described  as  from 
Araboina. 

12.  Appias  Clementina,  Feld. 

Pitris  Clementina,  Felder,  Sitzungsb.  Ak.  "Wiss.  "Wien,  math.-nat.  CI.  xl. 
p.  448  (18G0);  Reise  der  Nov.,  Lep.  i\  p.  162,  n.  133,  pi.  25.  Fig.  G 
(1867). 

$ .  Maru  Island. 

Originally  described  as  from  Amboina. 

13.  Belenois  consanguis,  Butler,  loc.  sup.  cit. 

Nearly  allied  to  B.  jv'tijs  from  Timor,  but  a  little  smaller;  the  external 
border  of  primaries  with  more  oblique  inner  edge,  much  broader  towards 
the  costa  and  without  any  trace  of  a  subapical  white  spot :  iwimarics 
below  white,  suffused  with  sulphur-yellow  at  the  base  only;  external 
area  black  internally,  but  of  a  reddish  clay-colour  towards  apex;  its 
inner  edge  much  less  irregular  than  in  B.  pitys,  being  sinuated  only  on 
the  lower  radial  and  lower  (or  first)  median  interspaces :  secondaries 
saffron-yellow,  the  external  border  with  purplish-black  internal,  and 
reddish  clay-coloured  external  half.     Expanse  of  wings  48  mm. 

Larat. 

PAPILIONlNiE. 

14.  Papilio  abeebans,  Butler,  loc.  sup.  cit. 

Pattern  and  form  of  Papilio  liris  of  Timor,  which  it  greatly  resembles 
on  the  ujiper  surface,  but  the  pale  area  on  the  primaries  is  whiter,  and 


7.V   TIMOR-LAUT.  379 


the  submarginal  spots  on  the  secondaries  sandy  brown,  instead  of  dull 
red  ;  the  sides  of  tlie  abdcimcn,  front  of  head,  anus,  and  lateral  jiectoral 
stripj  are  ochreons  instead  of  deep  rose-red,  and  the  submarginal  spots 
on  the  under  surface  of  the  secondaries  are  ochreous  buff  instead  of  rose- 
red.     Expanse  of  wings  108  mm 

$  $ .  Larat. 

There  were  several  examples  of  this  species  in  Mr.  Forbes's  collection, 
clearly  showing  that  the  differences  of  coloration  are  constant. 

15.  Papilio  inopinatus,  Butler,  loc.  sup.  cit. 

Allied  to  F.  adrastus  of  Felder,  from  Coram  and  N.  Guinea;  but  the 
male  with  a  broad  o1)lique  subapical  white  belt,  which  does  not  quite 
reach  the  outer  margin  and  is  cut  by  the  black  nervures ;  the  fascia  on 
the  secondaries  narrower,  formed  more  nearly  as  in  the  Australian 
P.  mji'tis,  with  zigzag  outer  edge,  but  of  more  uuiform  width  throughout 
than  in  that  species,  and  of  a  sordid  cream-colour ;  a  scarlet  spot  near 
the  anal  angle,  well  separated  from  the  central  fascia.  The  female  differs 
in  the  whiter  and  oblique  belt  across  the  primaries,  the  inner  edge  of 
which  is  not  so  deeply  zigzag,  and  therefore  is  i  ot  angulattd  as  in  the 
allied  species,  and  the  outer  half  towards  apex  suffused  with  grey  so  as 
greatly  to  reduce  its  Avidth ;  secondaries  with  no  trace  of  the  central 
white  patch,  the  submarginal  scarlet  spot  large,  oblong,  and  notched  in 
front.     Expanse  of  wings,  $  141  mm.,  $  153  mm. 

S  var.  Wings  shorter ;  the  inner  edge  of  the  whfte  band  of  primaries 
impinged  i;pon  by  the  discoidal  cell,  which  also  encloses  a  spot  of  the 
same  colour  as  the  band;  the  band  of  the  secondaries  bioader,  cutting 
across  the  end  of  the  cell.     Expanse  of  wings  132  mm. 

Maru  Island. 

Heteroceea. 
Sphingid^. 

16.  DlLUDIA  CASUAEINiE  ?  Walk. 

Mucrosila  casuarino',  ^^'alker,  Lep.  Het.  viii.  p.  210,  n.  19  (185G). 
I-arat.     Taken  in  Sagueir  (palm- wine)  bamboos. 

The  specimen  is  so  much  rubbed  that  it  is  impossible  to  be  sure  that 
it  is  the  same  as  the  Australian  si)ecies. 

CATEPHIIDiE. 

17.  Ercheia  dubia,  Butler. 

Cutep/ua  dubki,  Butler,  Cist.  Ent.  i.  p.  292  (1874). 
Larat. 
One  worn  example  of  this  Australian  species  was  obtained. 

OPHIUSIDiE. 

18.  LaGOPTERA  H0NE6TA,  Ililb. 

77ii/(ts  honesta, lliibner,  Sanmil.  cxot.  Schmett.  ii.  \-C\}.  iv.,  Noct.  iii. 
Semigeonietrro  v.,  Meropides  A.  Festivse  1,  figs.  1,  2  (1805). 
$.  Larat. 

URAKIIDiE. 

19.  Lyssidia  goldiei,  Druce. 

Li/ssldM  (joldm,  Druce,  P.  Z.  S.  1882,  p.  781. 
Larat. 


380  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDEBINGS 


'Kyvjesvdm. 

20.  PiNACIA  MOLYBDiENALIS,  Hub. 

Finaciu  mohjhdmialis,  Hubncr.  Samml.  cxot.  Schmett.,  Zutr.  p.  13, 
11.  218,  figs.  435,  436. 
Larat. 
Previously  knowu  from  Java  and  Borneo. 

AsoniDiE. 

21.  Hymenia  fa£Cialis,  Cram. 

FhalcEna-PyrullsfascluUs,  Cramer,  Pap.  Exot.  iv.  pi.  398.  0  (1782). 
Larat. 
A  fragment  of  this  wide-ranging  species  was  obtained. 

BOTIDIDiE. 

22.  BoTYS,  sp. 

.  A  broken  example  of  a  siDecies  allied  to  B.  gasfmJis,  which  it  resembles 
in  size  and  coloration ;  the  imttern,  however,  agrees  better  with  Ji. 
rosinalis. 

Ritabel,  Larat. 

The  specimen  is  not  sulBciently  perfect  fo  name;  it  is  chiefly  interest- 
ing for  its  roi-emblance  t-)  Kew-AVorld  types. 

The  only  other  Lepidopterou  is  unrecognisable,  as  previously  men- 
tioned; the  veining  of  the  wings  reminds  one  of  some  Micro-Lepi- 
dopteron. 


VII. —  On  the  CoUecti(.n  o/HYMENOPTEKAa^cZ  DiPTERA  //-oju  tlie  Timor-laut 
Islands,  formed  by  Mu.  H.  O.  Forbes.  By  W.  F.  Kirby,  Assistant  in 
the  Zoological  Department,  British  Museum. 

(From  the  Proc.  Zool.  Soc.  London,  May,  1883,  p.  343  et  seqq.) 

'ihe  small  collection  before  me,  consisting  of  only  five  species  of 
Ilyraenoptera  (all  new)  and  three  of  Dij^tcra,  was  formed  in  two  of  the 
fmaller  islands  of  the  Timor-laut  group,  viz.  Larat  and  Maru.  I  will  now 
proceed  to  describe  the  Hymenoptera  and  to  notice  the  Diptera,  merely 
remarking  that  they  exhibit  strong  atfinities  to  those  of  the  surrounding- 
groups  of  islands,  as  would  naturally  be  anticipated  beforehand.  Tlio 
specimens  are  numbered;  and  I  have  noted  these  numbers  throughout. 

HYMENOPTERA  ACULEATA. 
Atidm. 

Crocisa  c^ruleifrons,  Kirby.,  loc.  cit. 

Long.  Corp.  5  lin. 

Female.  Black,  face  and  orbits  (very  broadly  above)  blue;  prothorax 
with  a  short  stripe  behind  on  eac^h  side  above,  and  a  very  lai'ge  spot  on 
the  sides ;  mesothorax  with  seven  blue  spots — two  .<^mall  ones  on  the  front 
border,  adjoining  those  on  the  prothorax,  a  longitudinal  one  between, 
then  two  slightly  oval  ones  near  the  middle,  and  a  large  irregular  spot 
behind  on  each  side,  projecting  a  branch  forward  within  the  very  large 
black  tegula; ;  scuttellum  black,  strongly  excavated  in  the  middle : 
abdomen  with  the  first  fegment  blue,  a  narrow  longitudinal  line,  the 
greater  part  of  the  hind  border,  and  a  long  transverse  sjjot  contiguous  to 


J.V   TIMOR-LAUT.  381 


it  black,  the  remaining  segments  of  the  abdomen  are  black,  with  a  wide 
blue  stripe  sloping  slightly  upwards  on  each  side;  legs  black,  all.  the 
tibise  with  a  wide  blue  stripe  on  the  outside  ;  wings  dark  irarplish  brown. 
(2123.  Maru.) 

Allied  to  C.  nitidula,  Fabr.,  a  species  common  ia  Amboina,  Australia, 
&c.,  but  apparently  distinct. 

Xylocopa  forbesii,  Kirby,  loc.  cit. 

Long.  Corp.  10  lin. 

3TaIe.  Thickly  clothed  above  with  olive-green  pubescence,  as  in  the 
male  of  A',  cest'dcins,  Linn.,  or  of  A',  hryorum,  Fabr. ;  antenna  black  above 
and  fulvous  beneath,  the  hairs  on  the  middle  of  the  under  surface  of  the 
body,  especially  towards  the  tip,  those  on  the  lower  part  of  the  face,  and 
the  very  long  hairs  on  the  tarsi  shading  into  fulvo-ferruginous :  wings 
brownish  hyaline,  with  a  slight  violet  shade,  and  marked  on  all  the  cells 
along  the  hind  margin  with  numerous  black  dots,  as  in  the  allied  species  : 
proboscis  black,  probably  reddish  within  and  at  the  base  when  extended. 
(1988,  Larat.) 

Female.  Black,  thickly  clothed  with  black  hairs,  and  very  thickly  and 
finely  punctured,  except  on  the  middle  of  the  mesotliorax,  which  is 
smooth  and  shining,  and  has  a  short  longitudinal  furrow  in  front;  head 
clothed  with  bright  yellow  pubescence,  that  on  the  face  thinner  and 
paler ;  wings  with  a  bright  green  iridescence,  purplish  along  the  veins 
towards  the  base;  apical  half  of  the  antenna;  pale  beneath;  proboscis 
mostly  reddish ;  under  surface  of  body  thickly  punctured,  but  with 
some  bare  spaces  along  the  middle  line.     (1958,  Larat;  2019,  jMaru.) 

Closely  allied  to  A',  coronata.  Smith,  from  Kaioa;  but  in  the  female  of 
that  species  (which  doubtless  has  a  male  similar  to  that  of  X.  forbesii)  the 
wings  have  a  bright  violet  instead  of  a  green  iridescence. 

YESPID.E. 

PoLiSTES  EXTiiANKUS,  Kirby,  loc.  cit. 

Long.  Corp.  5  lin. 

Female.  Head  and  thorax  bright  chestnut,  dypeus  pentagonal,  bright 
yellow;  mandibles  with  a  yellow  mark  on  each  side:  antennae  dull 
yellow;  the  scape,  second  joint,  and  upper  part  of  the  third  reddish; 
jjrothorax  narrowly  edged  with  yellow  in  front  and  behiiid  :  scutellum 
with  a  transverse  yellow  line ;  metathorax  edged  with  yellow  on  the 
sides;  abdomen  with  the  first  joint  yellow,  witli  a  broad  red  stripe, 
bordered  behind  with  black,  extending  for  two-thirds  of  its  length  above, 
second  and  third  .segments  blackish  brown,  the  third  bordered  with 
yellow  behind,  the  fourth  yellow  bordered  with  blackish  brown  in  front 
and  behind,  and  the  fifth  and  sixth  dull  reddish;  wings  brownish 
hyaline,  with  reddish-brown  nervurcs,  yellow  stigma,  and  brown  borders. 
(2023,  Maru.) 

Closely  allied  to  P.  stiyma,  Fabr.  from  India,  Ceram,  and  Celebes. 

ScOLIIDiE. 

DiELis  LARATENSis,  Kirby,  loc.  cit. 

Long.  corp.  10]  lin. 

Female.  Black;  sides  of  thorax  and  abdomen,  .and  legs  clothed,  with 
black  hair ;  face  l)lack ;  clypeus  very  finely  ])uncturcd  above,  and  more 
coarsely  on  its  lower  edge,  and  bordered  at  the  sides  and  l)eIow  with 
yellow  pubescence;  mandibles  pitchy;  thorax  and  abdomen  finely 
punctured,  much  more  densely  than  elsewhere  on  the  sides  of  the  abdo- 

26 


382  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

men  and  on  the  four  terminal  segments,  both  above  and  below :  thorax 
and  abdomen  -with  strong  steel-blue  reflexions,  especially  on  the  basal 


DiELis  LABATEXSis.     (With  the  permission  of  the  council  of  the 
Zoological  Society.) 

half  of  the  abdomen  above  ;  wings  deep  violet-brown,  second  recurrent 
nerviu-e  incomplete,  diverging  from  the  first  at  the  base  and  on  the  left 
wing ;  the  nervule  connecting  the  recurrent  nervures  above  the  middle 
is  also  obsolete.    (1957,  Larat.) 

Much  resembles  the  Australian  Trielis  antliracina,  Burm.,  in  appear- 
ance. 

Chrysidid^. 

Chrysis  melanops,  Kirby,  loc.  sup.  cit. 

Long.  corp.  5  lin. 

Male.  Bright  green,  with  a  coppery  reflection  on  the  head  and  thorax 
(very  bright  coppery  red  wherever  abraded)  ;  pimctures  large,  close 
together,  "but  not  confluent ;  ocelli  black,  the  space  between  and  immedi- 
ately around  also  blackish  ;  apex  of  abdomen  (and  summit,  when  viewed 
sideways)  with  a  strong  blue  reflection;  under  surface  of  antennae,  the 
greater  part  of  the  hind  legs,  and  the  tips  and  under  surface  of  the 
middle  tibiai  and  middle  larsi  brown ;  abdomen  sexdentate,  with  equal 
and  rather  pointed  teeth  of  moderate  size;  wings  brown.  (2019, 
Maru.) 

Probably  allied  to  C.  parallela,  Brulle,  from  Timor ;  but  that  species 
is  varied  with  blue  on  the  head  and  thorax,  instead  of  with  copper. 

D  I  P  T  E  R  A. 

The  only  Diptera  in  the  collection  were  FIccia  fnlvimUis,  Wied.,  and 
Laphria  (jJuriusa,  Walk.,  both  of  which  are  common  species  in  the  Eastern 
Archipelago,  and  a  Tahanus,  possibly  new,  but  in  too  bad  condition  to 
describe. 


VIIT. — List   of  the   Crustacea   colleded  in  the   Tivior-laut  Islands  hy 
Mr.  H.  0.  Forbes.    Determined  by  E.  J.  Miers,  F.Z.S. 

Pilumnus  vespeitilio,  Fabr.   ad.    $ . 
Neptiinus  pelagicus,  Linn. 
Tlialamita  creuata,  Rlippell,  aJ.  $  . 


IN  TIMOR-LAUT. 


Ocypoflii  ceratoph  til  alma,  Pallas,  ad.  $ . 
Gelasmins  vocaiis,  Linn.  ad.  ^  .        r 

„  tetragonon,  Herbst,  ad. 

„  annulipes,  M.  Edw.  ad.  $. 

Macrophtholmiis  pacificus,  Dana,  var. 
Grapsus  str'gosiis,  Heibst,  ad.   $  . 
Pachygrapsus  occanicus,  v;ir.  quadridcntatus,  Stimpson. 
Cardisoma  earnife'X,  Herbfct.  ad.  $  . 
Myctiris  longicarpiis,  Latr.,  ad.   ^  . 
Coeuobita  lugosa,  M.  Edwards,  ad.  $ . 
Stenopus  hispidus,  Olivier,  ad. 
I'seudosquilla  ciliata,  Fabr.  ad. 


IX. —  Vocabulary  of  Words  used  in  the  Ke  Islands  and  in  Bitahel,  Larat, 
Timor-laut  Islands.     Compiled  by  the  Author, 


Vocabulary. 

Kc  Islands. 

Timor-laut  (Larat). 

Anchor 

Vatu. 

Anchor,  cord 

Wiirat. 

Anklets     .. 

Kiti. 

Ant            

Kirkim 

Arm 

Arumud 

Vetit,wholearro,Ardad. 

Arm,  fore  . . 

.. 

'i'anuvur. 

Armlet  of  shell    .. 

Sistoh. 

Armlet  of  ivory   . . 

Lela. 

Ashes 

Knalun 

Bad            

Sisian 

Sian. 

Bamboo 

Temar 

Temar. 

Banana 

Miiu.. 

Mou. 

Bat 

Yabar. 

Batatas  (sweet  potato)    .. 

Ena. 

Bathe         

Suruk 

Titliiruita ;  Faliru. 

Beads 

Marumut. 

Bed            

Kin 

Taita. 

Belly          

Eboon 

Evoon. 

Belt,  of  sheath  of  JJorassus 

Calco  gnaraan. 

Belt,  woman's 

Calco. 

Beautiful 'view)  ..          ..          .. 

T.abuang 

Bird           

!\Ianoot 

Black         

Metme'tan    . . 

Ngtoan ;  akuda. 

Blood         

Lara . . 

Lara. 

Blood- vcs.-ol 

IJrat-vali. 

Blue          

Timtum 

Nitiali. 

Boat           

Habo 

Ea;  hor. 

Body          

Uling 

Bone 

Lurin 

Lorin, 

Bow 

Temar 

Box            

Sungoh 

Boy            

Koot-Koot   . . 

Kosoku. 

Breast,  male  and  female  .. 

Bubur:  Soos  ' 

Bubu :  Sueu. 

Bring 

Mleba. 

Butterfly 

■  . 

Aikuan. 

Cage 

Rahankau. 

Calabash,  for  eating  out  of 

i 

I'lienga. 

384 


A   NATURALIST'S    WANDEIilNGS 


Vocabulary, 

Ke  Islands. 

Timor-laut  {Larat). 

Chain,  girlie 

worn  by  women   , . 

Eboor. 

„       cf)rd  part  of  it 

Erit. 

.,      button  for  fasteuing 

Erit-matan. 

Chalk 

.  •           .  • 

Yafoor. 

Child,  male ; 

female 

Yanad 

Kosoku-vata ;   yanad. 

Chief  (of  the 

people) 

Tamatmela. 

Chin 

Demid. 

Chopper     . . 

Gnir  '          '..          .'. 

Clouds 

IVTutan. 

Coat 

Ravit. 

Cocoa-nut ;  young  (1)  ;  old  (2)  . . 

Gnoor 

Gnoor  ;  gnoor  vua  (1) ; 

gnoor-ka  (2). 

Cold 

Tabriniu 

Ridiria. 

Comb 

Goal. 

,,      decorated    .. 

Goal  lela. 

Come 

Modo 

Cradle 

Wel-wel 

Siwela. 

Dance 

Tiibar;  amtabar. 

Dance  song 

Tjikelele. 

Daughter  .. 

.. 

Yanad  vat  vat 

Yana  ma  vata. 

Dav' 

Hamar 

Deity 

Dooad 

Dooadilah. 

Doll 

•  •          •• 

Taran. 

Door 

Fid   '.'.          '.'.          '.'.■ 

Inooan. 

Ear 

Aroon 

Arood. 

Earrings   (of 

gold;    earrings  of 

Lor-lora ;  welwelak  (of 

dugong) 

■    .. 

.. 

Halcore  tooth). 

Earth 

Elanoo. 

East 

.  • 

Timor;  mololan. 

Eat 

Taan 

Maine;  Tufnan. 

Eclipse 

Karasok  faria. 

Eggs 

•  •          •• 

. . 

Mata-ttloor. 

Evening    . . 

Lerivava. 

Exchange  .. 

. .          . . ' 

Tetivook     '.. 

Heloo. 

Eye 

Mata. 

Eyebrows   .. 

•• 

Matadroon   .. 

Mata-toovin- 

Face 

Maliad 

Wahad. 

Far 

Roro. 

Father 

•  ••         •  •          •  • 

Yamam 

Yam  an. 

Fathom 

.  •          . .          . . 

Ref  .. 

Erefa. 

Feather     . . 

Manvoon 

Female 

Vata. 

Finished    . . 

.  •          •  ■          . . 

Enrok 

Rokiook. 

Fire 

Yaf 

Yafo.. 

Fish  (1),  to  fish  (2) 

lan(l) 

Woowiot  (1),  Ian  (1), 

dawa  woot  (2). 

Flesh 

Hin  .. 

Wawoo. 

Flower 

•  • 

Ofuoon. 

Fly.. 

Raboor 

Foot 

Lang. 

Forget 

Oobloofang  .. 

Kablufan. 

Fowl 

Manoot 

Manoot. 

Friend*      .. 

Ningyan 

Kid  an  g. 

Fruit 

Booal 

Give 

Malabokoo-ria. 

*  In    Yamgena  (mainland)  friend  is 
Kamtia  lo. 


Kes.     "Friend,  1    am  going,'" — "  Kei 


IN   TIMOR-LAUT. 


385 


Vocabulary 

Kti  Islands. 

Timor-laut  (Lurat). 

Go 

Elbooa          ..           ..    1 

Gold           

Mas ! 

Mas. 

Good          

Bocik            ! 

Lolin. 

Great 

Dawon. 

Gum 

..    ^. 

Natal. 

Hair           

Mooroot       ..          ..    ! 

Wuoot. 

Half           

Tera.                            r 

Hand 

Limad 

Limad  tanan. 

Hard           

Oosin 

Nang.rebat. 

Harpoou     .. 

Tear. 

Head          

Ood  '.'.          '.'.          '.'. 

Oolood-watool. 

Hear          

Mdenar 

Heel          

.. 

Eatawoo. 

Hero 

Odani           '.'.          '.'. 

Haworokia. 

Honey 

Wenan 

Horns  (of  house)  . . 

Korn. 

Hot            

Naneh 

Nanganeh. 

House 

Rahan 

Rahan. 

How  many 

Hongakbo   .. 

Efira. 

Husband    .. 

Brinran 

Ha  wan. 

Indian  corn 

Selaroo. 

Iron 

Tman 

Island 

Nuhoo  yaitt 

Knee 

Eadtoor 

Toorad. 

Knife  (1)  sheath  (2) 

Gnib 

Enko,  akooda. 

Know  dau't 



Wolemgka. 

Kris 

Sariba. 

Largo 

Dawon. 

Leaf           

Eoan 

Leg            

■ 

Bang     (man's    own 
leg),  cam  (another's) 

Ead. 

Lightning 

Fitik. 

Little         

Eiiiit!!          '.'.          '.'. 

Milne  and  white, 
I    Hemenmaran. 

Loincloth  .. 

T.      1  J  blue,      Hemeu 
Ro-ok-v        .' 

j    antoan. 

/  white,    Hemen 

(^  buru. 

I'Ong          

Bloot 

Blawat. 

Lorie 

Lelooi-. 

L0U83 

Got   ..          '.'.          '.'. 

Male          

Trana. 

Man 

Tomata 

Toniala. 

Man,  young 

Vcrvernn. 

„     married 

Ktrauii. 

Manioc 

Tooal. 

Many 

Abed" 

Lehcr. 

Marry 

Tufan 

Sofa. 

Mat             

D..r 

M-)i,kcy 

Buoo 

M>nn 

Ooan 

Voolan. 

Morning     .. 

Vervcrra. 

Mosquito    .. 

Em  i  moos 

Molher 

Nen  .. 

Tili^ 

Mouth        

G  ueu 

Soomar. 

Mail 

KuJcud 

886 


A    NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


Vocabulary. 

Ke  Islands. 

Tinior-laut  (Larut) 

Nail,  finger 

Kukud 

Navel 

Fooart. 

Neck 

Eelad. 

Needle 

Boolin 

Night 

Dedan 

No,  simple  negative 

Waid 

Walafa;  wah. 

No,  refusnl  of  anything  . . 

Naa.. 

Nafena. 

Noon 

Lera  si  lola. 

North 

Mad  mar 

Mormar. 

Nose 

Niroon 

Niroot. 

Oil 

Gno 

Orchid        

Wookoo. 

Pi- 

Babi 

Bab. 

Pillow 

Loolooni. 

Poison 

Elaan. 

Post            

Fler'.'.          '.".          '.'. 

Eain  (1)  ;  it  rains  (2) 

Doot(l)       .. 

Doot  (1) ;  dciit   oofiri- 
roo  (2). 

Eat 

Karoo 

Manhowan. 

Rattan 

Oo 

Oo. 

Eed 

Voolvooli     . . 

Noovooli. 

Eemember  (1);    remember   well 

Oofang  nangkeu    .. 

Ninana  (1)  ;   masilolin 

(2)          

(2). 

Eesin 

Natal. 

Eeticulura  (of  imlm) 

Nafit. 

Eice 

Kokat 

Wan  an. 

Elver 

Hoat 

Noar. 

Eoad  (path) 

Ood 

Boot           

Wailr 

Sagueir  (palm  wine) 

Tcoat 

Tooak. 

„        Bamboo  for  holding 

Eavivit. 

Salt             

Masin 

Sirak. 

Sand           

Gnwoor 

Gnuoor. 

Say  ;  what  do  yon  say  ? . . 

Onalaka 

Sea.. 

Laut 

Meti ;  tahat ;  haletan. 

See 

Mlik 

Misilik. 

Sell            

Oomfed 

Fedi. 

Send          

Nigasln  ngnoo. 

Sew 

Mhoar 

Shell          

Mahan. 

Shell,  great  clam  {Tridacna)     . . 

Mahan. 

Shield        

LIT   '.'.           '.'.           '.'. 

Salawakoon        (long). 
Gnelia  (short). 

Silver 

Eubi 

Mas  ninoor. 

Siri(l);  basket  for  siii  (2) 

Maneran 

Naan  (1);  loovoo 

Skin           

Ulid 

Sky             

I.anih 

Sleep 

Tatooi) 

Tooba. 

Sleeping-mat 

.. 

Elari  bangkoko. 

Small 

Koko. 

Smoke 

Yafmahnm  .. 

Yafuman. 

Snake 

Eubai 

Nifa. 

Son             

Yana  nia  brana 

Sour 

Kahi'r           '.'.          '.'. 

Kabi. 

South         

Trnnan 

Trana. 

Speak 

Tangriiii 

Tangriiii  (gtitiuml). 

Spear 

Nangah 

Boonoot. 

Spoon 

Ooroo. 

IN   TIMOB-LAUT. 


387 


Vocabulary.                      ! 

Ke  Islands. 

Timor-laut  {Larat). 

Star 



Nar 

Narra. 

Suclde 

Toi  masoosoo 

Sugar-cane 

Tevoo. 

Sun 

Lera. 

Sweet 

Kaslooir 

Minaminat. 

Tattooing  .. 

Belbela. 

Teelh 

Nifat ;  nifa  rida. 

'I'esticles    . . 

Kamad. 

There  (to) . . 

Tatin-heri. 

Tliatch 

Eafet. 

Thread,  Ihread 

of  which  native 

sarongs  are  made 

Kar  .. 

Avat;  ahjiin. 

Thumb       .. 

Limad  keteh. 

Thunder    . . 

Nafdud        '.'.          '.'. 

Dodong. 

Tibia,  tuberosity  of 

Gnangoi. 

Ties,  made  of  sugar-palm 

Eira. 

Toe,  great  . . 

Eiid  tanan  keteh. 

Toe,  second  (1) 

little  toe  (2)    .. 

E'ad  tanan  frooan  (I); 
frooan  kewaren  (2). 

Toe-nail     . . 

Edd  uooa. 

Toe  ring    . . 

Sitanea. 

To-day 

Lervava. 

To-morrow 

]Meran 

Vera-vcra. 

Tongue 

Eard. 

Trousers     . . 

(?)  Kada. 

Understand 

Okai             

Fanowak. 

Verv ;  very  beautiful 

Koak ;  lolin  roak. 

Wake 

.. 

Batai 

Wash 

Burik 

(?)  Wangir. 

Wash,  hands 

Tiflaru  trame. 

Wash,  teeth 

Tonumur. 

Water 

AVehr' 

Ooiir. 

Waves  (1) ;  large  waves  (2) 

Voo-vooat  (1) 

Saksabau   (1);    lalawa 

(2). 

Wax 

Lilin 

Weep 

Mroon 

Fakar. 

West 

Warat  mololau. 

White 

Nan<rear 

Naugcar. 

Wife 

Ho(3d 

Wind 

Nioot 

Neet;  lar. 

Window      .. 

Yanella. 

Wing 

Halp.iin 

Halaiin. 

Wire 

Bilbal 

Ververi. 

Wish 

Kan  gen 

In an  rob. 

Woman 

Vat-vat 

Vafa ;  mnilat. 

Wood 

Ai 

Saifa. 

Work 

Tootwafa. 

Yellow 

Toomtoom    . 

Numerals  : — 

1  = 

esa.                          i 

i  =  cwaloo.                    I 

0  =  ootlinia. 

2  = 

eroo.                      J 

>  =  esi.                            ( 

30  =  ootnean. 

a  = 

ettdco.                  K 

=  csapuloo. 

"0  =  ootfitoo. 

•      4  = 

el  at                       2( 

'  =  ootrooa.                     i 

?0  =  ootwaloo. 

5  = 

elima.                   3( 

)  =  etotoloo.                   { 

)0  =  ootsi. 

6  = 

encaii.                  i( 

)  =  ootfaat.                   1( 

)0  =  ratoo. 

7  = 

cfitoo. 

PAET   V. 

IN  THE  ISLAND  OF  BURU. 


CHAPTER  I. 

FROM   KAJELI   TO    THE   LAKE. 

From  Amboina  to  Buru — Xajcli— Trade  of  Kajeli — Birds— River  Apu— "\\'ai 
Bloi  village — Village  of  Wai  Gelau — The  Matakau — Forced  encampments 
— Wai  Klaba — A  Pomalied  mountain — -Wasilale — Hospitable  reception 
— Houses — Musical  performance— L^omali  signs — Arrive  at  Lalia. 

Having  packed  up  and  despatched  my  Timor-laiit  collections 
to  Europe,  I  left  Amboina   on   the  afternoon   of  the  Ttli  of 

November  (A remaining  behind  with  our  kind  hosts)  for 

Biiru,  an  island  a  short  distance  to  the  west,  with  the  inten- 
tion of  reaching  the  central  region  round  the  rarely  visited 
Lake  of  Wakolo.  Next  morning  at  daybreak  w^e  were  steam- 
ing under  the  shade  of  the  "  Mother  and  Daughter  "  mountains 
of  the  Dutch  maps,  whose  picturesquely  rugged  peaks,  stand- 
ing out  against  the  sky  like  giant  minster  towers,  mark  the 
eastern  promontory  of  the  Bay  of  Kajeli,  in  whose  southern 
bend  lies  the  town  of  the  same  name,  where  I  landed  in  the 
forenoon,  and  was  kindly  offered  a  room  in  the  house  of  Post- 
holder  Bergmann. 

The  town  is  situated  on  a  low  morassy  plain,  which,  during 
the  rainy  season,  is  often  wholly  inundated,  and  has  the 
reputation  of  being  very  unlioalthy,  the  people  being  afflicted 
with  malarial  and  rheumatic  fevers,  and  I  am  told  also  with 
sterility.  Its  most  conspicuous  edifice  is  the  Fort,  enclosed  in 
massive  embrasured  walls  erected  in  1778  by  the  Dutch  close 
to  tlie  shore,  to  protect  the  Bay  from  the  pirate  hordes  who 
used  to  make  Buru  their  special  slave-kidnapping  ground. 
There  is  now.  however,  a  distance  of  from  seven  hundred  to 
eight  hundred  yards  of  a  tall  grass  covered  sandy  flat  separat- 
ing it  from  the  margin  of  the  water,  which  has  been  gained 
from  the  sea  in  little  over  100  years. 

Its  great  items  of  exjjort  are  fish  (which,  during  tlie  latter 
months  of  the    year   arc  driven  into  the  Bay  in    enormous 


592  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


quantities),  sago,  and  the  famons  Kajuput  oil,*  distilled  by 
the  natives  from  the  leaves  of  the  giirn  trees  {Melaleuca 
Kajuputl)  which  form  a  large  part  of  the  vegetation  of  the 
shores  of  the  Bay.  In  the  year  previous  to  my  visit  90,000 
bottles,  worth  £9,200,  were  shipped  for  Macassar,  Singapore, 
and  China.  From  Masaretti,  one  of  the  villages  in  the  south 
coast,  a  large  trade  is  done  with  Amboina  in  Katjang  beans 
[Arachis  hypogxa),  in  Hotjong  (Eleusine  coracana),  and  in 
pigs,  in  exchange  for  copper  gongs,  in  whose  music  the  natives 
greatly  delight.  These  pigs,  brought  from  the  moimtainous 
parts  of  the  interior,  having  been  fed  on  sago,  which  gives 
their  flesh  a  specially  fine  flavour,  fetch  a  higher  price  in  the 
market  than  any  other. 

The  island  is  divided  into  rajah-sliips,  whose  rajahs  reside 
in  Kajeli  and  spend  most  of  their  time  under  the  influence  of 
opium. 

One  of  the  chief  points  of  interest  to  me  in  Buru,  was  the 
fact  that  it  has  been  considered — not  on  any  very  certain  data 
— as  the  starting-point  of  the  final  dispersion  of  the  autoch- 
thenes  of  the  archipelago,  the  Mahori  (or  Polynesian)  races,! 
eastAvard  to  their  Pacific  homes.  As  between  the  coast  tribes 
and  the  Alefurus  of  the  interior,  who,  according  to  their  own 
superstitions  "  durst  not  approach  the  sea  so  near  as  to  hear 
it  breaking  on  the  shore  without  being  struck  with  dire  sick- 
ness," there  has  never  been  much  inter-communication,  I  was 
very  anxious  to  see  these  little  contaminated  people  of  the 
interior. 

I  was  disappointed,  however,  to  find  that  my  ofiicial  letters 
for  aid  were  useless  without  "  instructions  "  from  the  Resident 
(I  had  applied  ofiicially  for  them  to  Mr.  Piedel,  but  he 
abstained  from  taking  any  notice  of  my  letter),  tlie  Post-holder 
was  not  at  liberty  to  assist  me  in  obtaining  porters  or  other 
transport  to  the  lake  ;  but  as  he  was  himself  very  soon  to  go 
there  officially,  he  would  be  very  jjleased,  he  said,  if  I  would 
accompany  him.  As  it  was  impossible  for  me  to  obtain  the 
necessary  transport  except  through  the  rajahs  at  the  instance 
of  the  Post-holder,  I  was  gla<l   on  any  terms  of  the  chance 

*  This  is   the  Dutch  spelling:;   cf  the  Malny  Kayu  =  wooJ  or  tree,  puti 
=  white,  from  the  colour  of  the  bark  of  the  tree, 
■f  Consult  Stanford's  Compendium  of  Geography,  Australasia,  app.,  p.  G12. 


IN  BUBU.  393 

of  penetrating  into  this  interesting  island.  Meanwhile  I 
employed  myself  in  collecting  round  Kajeli,  where  I  obtained 
many  of  the  species  of  birds  discovered  there  by  llr.  Wallace, 
'and  described  by  him  in  the  "Proceedings  of  the  Zoological 
Society"  for  1863,  among  them  the  interesting  oriole  (Oriolns 
huruensis)  and  the  honey  bird  {Philemon  moluccensis)  which 
it  mimics,  both  closely  resembling  the  corresponding  species 
shot  in  Larat,  as  well  as  the  pretty  Kajeli  kingfisher  [Ceyx  cajeli), 
the  Aprosmidus  huruensis,  and  the  rare  Eclectus  intermedius. 

On  the  14:th  we  started  for  our  first  stage  towards  the  Lake, 
the  village  of  Wai  Bloi  (where  we  were  to  find  our  transport 
men  waiting  us),  accompanied  by  the  Eajah  of  Kajeli,  in 
whose  district  the  Lake  lies,  and  the  Pati  of  Lisela  throuorh  a 
portion  of  whose  territory  we  had  to  pass.  The  way  to  AVai 
(river)  Bloi,  the  first  village  beyond  the  morass  land  fringing 
the  shore,  lay  up  the  river  Wai  Apu,  which  debouches  in 
the  centre  of  the  Kajeli  Bay,  an  hour's  sail  from  the  town. 

The  river  near  its  embouchure  splits  into  many  arms  among 
the  mangrove  swamj^s,  then  winds  for  hours  through  low 
morass  between  banks  green  with  fern-hedges  dipping  their 
fronds  into  the  sluggish  water  under  the  shade  of  tall  slender 
trees.  Higher  up  these  gave  place  to  Pandan  thickets  out  of 
which  rose  tall  Lont?.r-,  Pinang-,  and  wild  sago-  {Metroxyhn 
jilare)  palms,  and  graceful  tree  ferns.  Where  the  banks  were 
less  submerged  the  jungle  became  very  dense  behind  a  thick 
barrier  of  JMangabrabu  in  profuse  flower  {Cerhera  odallam  and 
C.  ladaria)  Apocynaceous  shrubs,  Avhich  lined  the  river  sides 
for  miles,  and  dotted  the  water  with  their  white  blossoms. 
Out  of  this  thicket  an  occasional  black  cuckoo  {Eudynamis 
ransomi)  flew  out  as  we  passed,  while  on  the  taHer  trees  whoso 
heads  shot  up  above  the  jungle  sat  many  white  Nutmeg- 
pigeons  {Mi/n'sticivora  meJanura)  and  here  and  there  a  red- 
necked lia\Nk  (Accijriter  ruhricoUis). 

After  four   hours   of  liard   rowing,  the  blue  hills  shot  up 
ri'i'lit    ahead    and  broke  the  G:looni  of  the  monotonous  vej^e- 

r^  o  o 

tation  wliich  liad  bounded  our  view,  and  between  which, 
throughout  the  rest  of  the  hot  afternoon,  our  prau  was  now 
slowly  dragged  through  frequent  rapids,  now  laboriously 
poled  upwards  against  the  swiftening  stream.  Baked  in  our 
cramped    position   iu    the   narrow    boat,    the  journey   would 


394  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


have  been  almost  unbearable,  but  for  the  frequent  flash  of 
insect — bright  Papilios  and  Ornitliopteras — and  of  bird — -the 
orange  Pachycephalas,  the  yellow  TV  hite-cyes  (Zosterojjs),  lazily 
flapping  Herons,  and  the  blue-plumaged  scarlet-billed  Water- 
hens  {Porphyrio  melanopteru&) — wliich  darted  to  and  fro  across 
the  stream. 

At  dark,  in  the  midst  of  a  heavy  rain,  we  reach  the  con- 
fluence of  the  Wai  Bloi,  about  200  feet  above  the  sea,  where 
several  Alefnrus — the  name  by  which  all  the  natives  of  the 
interior  I  met  call  themselves — were  waiting  to  carry  us  on 
suspended  chairs  to  the  village  about  a  mile  distant.  The 
Alefurus  can  scarcely  be  said  to  inhabit  villages  ;  they  live 
more  frequently  in  isolated  houses  on  the  patch  of  land  they 
cultivate  or  in  small  communities.  Those,  however,  within 
certain  regions  denominated  Soas  seem  to  have  claims  on  each 
other  of  consanguinity  or  friendship  ;  as  if  the  members  of  a 
large  village  had  dispersed,  and,  while  living  separately,  still 
recognised  all  the  former  ties  in  times  of  difficulty  or  war. 
Each  Soa  has  its  chief,  and  Merinyo  or  under  chief,  who  is 
responsible  to  Forterus,  officials  who  receive  in  the  name  of 
the  rajah  the  tribute  of  their  gardens  and  fields  as  well  as 
compel  them  to  give  their  produce,  in  exchange  for  coast  goods 
at  an  exorbitant  profit. 

Next  day  we  took  a  westward  course  through  fields  of  tall 
Kussu  grass  dotted  with  Kayu-puti  trees,  and  through  swamjjs 
full  of  sago  palms.  At  early  forenoon  we  rested  for  a  little  at  the 
villao-e  cluster  of  the  Kiver  Gelan,  one  of  the  tributaries  of  the 
'River  Apu.  Overarching  the  path  was  an  open  shed  with 
benches  along  each  side  on  which  we  reclined,  serving  possibly 
as  a  general  meeting  room  or  rest-house  for  passers  correspond- 
ing to  the  Balai  of  Sumatra,  or  the  Baluai  of  Amboina. 
When  we  arrived  we  found  a  sleeping  child  tied  in  a  blanket 
swaying  to  and  fro  at  the  end  of  a  rope  hung  from  the  rafters. 
It  had  been  thus  left  to  be  rocked  and  nursed  by  the  wind,  till 
its  mother  returned  from  the  fields !  As  soon  as  a  traveller 
arrived  1  noticed  that  he  was  at  once  waited  on  by  the  women 
of  the  village  who  brought  siri,  betel  and  chalk,  and  a  hot 
ember  to  light  his  cigarette.  The  women  seemed  to  live  in 
great  subjection  to  the  men,  who  never  did  anything  for  them- 
selves if  a  woman  was  within  call. 


IN  BURU. 


395 


Their  houses  were  of  the  most  miserable  description,  fairly 
well-roofed  but  without  any  furniture  or  conveniences,  with  the 
exception  of  a  narrow  platform  raised  a  few  feet  above  the 
earthen  floor  for  sleeping  on.  Behind  each  house  I  observed 
a  small  thatched  structure  which 
they  called  the  Matahau,  the 
sacred  place  of  the  Alefuru 
wherein,  by  burning  dammar, 
he  propitiates  the  Great  Spirit 
Allah  Stalla.  The  Matakau  is 
a  small  platform  erected  on  a 
short  pole  and  roofed  over  with 
palm-leaf  thatch  from  whose 
eaves  all  round  hangs  down  a 
long  fringe  of  split-up  palm 
leaflets.  Inside  are  preserved  a 
knife,  a  spear,  a  Kau  turin  or 
thick  walking-stick  constantly 
carried  by  the  natives  on  tlieir 
journeys  (with  these  they  are  «:^c=:r:r:^ 
adepts  at  quarter-staff;  I  was 
much  amused  by  seeing  two 
children  practising  uith  singu-  matakau. 

lar  skill  their  cuts  and  guards,  quite  unconscious  of  being 
watched),  a  dish  containing  siri,  betel  and  chalk,  and  a  piece  of 
scarlet  cloth.  Before  sowing  any  of  their  fields,  some  of  the 
seed  is  always  placed  inside  the  i\Iatakau,  dammar  is  burned, 
and  their  ritual  performed  in  order  to  secure  its  fructification. 

Their  most  dreaded  and  respected  oath  is  made,  holding  the 
sharp  top  of  a  sago  palm  leaf  in  the  hand,  on  the  sacred  knife 
and  spear  taken  from  the  Matakau ;  for  they  believe  in  the  power 
of  these  pomali- weapons  to  harm  them  at  any  unguarded 
moment.  Another  form  of  adjuration  is  in  drinking  after 
making  their  declaration,  water  in  which  had  been  placed  salt 
(that  they  may  melt  away),  a  blade  of  Kussu-grass  (that  they 
may  be  scarred  as  by  its  edges),  a  lance  and  a  knife  (that 
their  bodies  be  pierced,  cut  and  run  through)  if  they  have 
sworn  falsely. 

Proceeding  on  our  way,  we  camped  for  the  night  in  the 
forest  under  a  canopy  made  of  the  long  leaves  of  the  sago- 


396  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

l^alm  cut  down  and  arranged  for  us  by  the  Alefurus.  Un- 
fortunately for  the  quick  progress  of  our  march,  my  German 
companion,  unaccustomed  to  travel,  was  easily  fatigued,  and 
both  the  native  chiefs  were  devotees  of  the  opium  pipe,  and 
were  constantly  finding  all  manner  of  excuses  for  a  halt  too 
readily  acquiesced  in  by  Mr.  Bergmann.  No  sooner  was  the 
order  given  than  their  blankets  were  at  once  sjjread  on  the 
ground,  and  the  soothing  narcotic  produced. 

Next  day  we  journeyed  through  Kussu-grass  fields,  with 
scarcely  a  vestige  of  forest,  and  only  sparse  belts  or  low  scrub 
of  Melaleuca  and  Melastoma,  without  having  the  satisfaction  of 
seeing  a  single  bird  or  insect.  The  country  now  began  to  rise 
in  successive  steps,  first  over  a  height  of  500  feet,  down  400 
feet,  to  rise  again  600  feet. 

On  the  third  day  we  w'cre  compelled  to  camp  at  noon  on  the 
banks  of  the  Klaba,  on  another  of  those  excuses — that  no 
other  stream  could  be  reached  within  the  day's  march — which 
the  Eajah  of  Kajeli,  who  had  never  gone  the  road  in  his  life, 
was  constantly  making  to  enable  him  to  resume  his  soporific 
smoke.  The  Klaba,  like  all  the  other  streams  we  had  crossed, 
was  making  for  tlie  Apu.  The  valley  was  set  with  more  clumps 
of  trees  and  cycads  than  any  of  those  we  had  yet  traversed. 

A  short  way  behind  I  had  observed  tall  bamboo  spikes 
bristling  thickly  among  the  grass,  for  the  purpose  evidently  of 
catching  deer  and  pig  driven  towards  them  by  firing  the  grass 
in  a  wide  semicircle  around  them,  xVfter  our  huts — made  of 
the  bark  of  Commersonia  ecliinata,  a  very  abundant  tree 
there — were  erected,  I  started  with  my  hunters  and  some  of 
the  Alefurus  as  beaters,  in  hopes  of  securing  a  haunch  of 
venison  for  our  larder.  We  were  fortunate  in  meeting  within 
an  hour  with  two  little  herds,  from  the  second  of  which  I  secured 
a  fine  young  stag.  While  it  was  being  prepared,  I  scoured  the 
bed  of  a  dry  stream  behind  the  camp,  and  caught  numerous 
fine  Tiger  Beetles  (Cecindelidse)  and  many  species  of  a  Tenaris, 
a  butterfly  closely  resembling  the  Tenaris  urania  of  Amboina, 
but  being  much  paler,  I  have  separated  it  by  the  name 
T.  huruensis. 

Next  day  another  very  short  march  was  made,  a  halt  being 
called  on  the  pretext  that  a  ridge  of  the  mountain  in  front  of 
us  was  Kiiing  or  tabooed.     As  we  could  not  pass  over  it  before 


IN  BUEU:  397 

sundown,  and  might  not  bo  camped  on  it,  we  had  to  pass  the 
night  again  in  the  forest  in  a  dense  rain,  on  the  slope  above  our 
former  camp,  1500  feet  above  the  sea.  At  break  of  next  day 
we  continued  the  ascent  of  Mount  Makka  to  about  2000  feet 
above  the  sea,  passing  through  low  sparse  jungle  full  oiBipteris 
liorsjieldii  ferns  and  thickets  of  the  bracken  (which  so  often 
accompanies  it),  till  we  came  on  the  Kiiing  region  w'hich  had 
been  a  great  forest,  but  had  only  recently  been  burned  down 
leaving 'many  of  the  lifeless  stems  standing,  and  from  the 
falling  of  whose  dead  limbs  the  Alefurus  seemed  to  stand  in 
great  dread.  No  one  dared  to  speak  to  his  neighbour  during 
our  passage ;  I  was  besought  not  to  shoot,  and  above  all  no 
one  might  use  certain  proscribed  words  for  fear  of  disaster. 
No  Buruese  of  the  interior,  it  is  said,  can  dare  to  approach 
the  sea  so  near  as  to  hear  the  beating  of  the  surf  without 
falling  ill.  Whether  the  superstition  has  arisen  from  the  fact 
that  the  sea  could  be  seen  from  the  high  elevation  we  were 
on,  or  whether  it  was  because  it  might  be  the  residing  place  of 
hostile  spirits,  I  do  not  know.  All  along  the  way  I  could  hear 
them  repeating  some  sort  of  invocation,  and  on  quitting  the 
noxious  region,  one  of  the  men  stopped  behind  to  erect  another 
of  those  little  w-hite  stakes  three  to  five  feet  high,  which  we 
had  seen  at  various  places  along  the  tabooed  region — a  branch 
carefully  stripped  of  all  its  bark,  its  extremity  wrapped  round 
with  a  piece  of  scarlet  cloth,  and  sharpened,  to  be  tipped  w  ith  a 
morsel  of  pinang  nut.  I  imagine  these  pillars  to  be  thanks'- 
giving  offerings  to  the  spirit  of  the  place  for  a  safe  passage. 

Descending  to  the  river  Wohangan,  which  we  crossed  at 
about  1000  foot  above  the  sea,  we  halted  for  lunch,  the 
Alefurus  rubbing  their  limbs  and  bodies  till  they  were  quite 
blistered,  with  the  leaves  of  a  very  sharp  stinging  nettle, 
TJrtica  cvcdlfolia,  "  to  take  away  their  fatigue."  "\Vo  had  at 
last  entered  a  more  wooded  country,  and  I  noted  on  the  damp 
shade  many  fine  Zingiheracess  never  seen  before  in  flower,  and 
a  Bidijmocarpus  witli  a  white  corolla  margined  witli  deep 
indigo.  Aloug  the  banks  of  the  stream  I  observed  also  quite 
a  number  of  butterflies  I  had  not  seen  elsewhere,  and  wer^ 
I  to  return  to  Jiuru  I  should  certainly  nuike  a  prolonged  stay 
near  this  river. 

Ivaiu  compelled  us  again  to  camp  in  the  forest.  After  a 
27 


398  A  NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


comfortless  night  we  ascended  the  steep  side  of  the  Woresa, 
this  time  to  3000  feet,  camping  on  its  farther  slope  in  another 
deluge  of  rain,  in  which  we  were  thoroughly  drenched.  The 
Aleturus  extemporised  for  themselves  elegant  shelters  by 
piling  a  thatch  of  extra  branches  on  the  tied- together  toDS 
of  neighbouring  bushy  shrubs.  These,  dotted  about  round 
our  larger  bark-made  huts,  formed,  when  lit  up  by  our  large 
central  fire,  quite  a  picturesque  camp,  ^Yhich  we  were  too  wet  to 
be  in  a  humour  to  enjoy  much. 

We  proceeded  next  day  in  a  very  unfit  state  from  the  chill 
of  the  previous  night,  but  we  had  not  gone  far  when  some 
anxiety  was  caused  by  finding  the  ground  set  with  bamboo 
spikes.  Not  knowing  whether  this  was  a  sii:n  of  hostility 
towards  us  or  against  some  former  enemy  we  kept  the  bacrgage 
back  a  little  and  went  on  ourselves  ahead,  with  loaded  arms  ; 
but  finding  no  other  traces  we  descended  without  further 
thought  of  ill  to  the  Wai  Gelan,  another  large  river,  making, 
as  all  the  streams  we  had  yet  crossed,  to  join  with  tributaries 
of  the  tributaries  of  the  Apu.  Except  at  a  few  spots,  the 
paucity  of  birds,  insects,  and  also  snakes  for  which  Burn  has 
a  bad  reputation  but  of  which  we  had  not  seen  a  single 
specimen,  surprised  me  very  much.  From  the  Wai  Gelan  the 
ascent — each  height  exceeded  the  one  before  it  all  the  way  to 
the  coast — was  very  steep  and  slippery,  which  the  Aldfurus, 
inciting  each  other  with  cries  of  Gossa,  gossa  (good,  good), 
required  all  their  strength  to  get  our  baggage  up.  At  2400 
feet,  coming  on  a  few  houses  called  W^asilale  in  the  middle  of 
a  forest  garden,  the  first  signs  of  life  we  had  seen  since  leaving 
the  river  Bloi,  we  decided  to  halt  for  the  night,  and  press 
forward  to  the  lake  next  day. 

AVe  took  up  our  quarters  in  a  rest-house  of  the  most  abject 
description,  but  quite  in  keeping  with  their  own  miserable 
dwellings.  Three  or  four  men,  who  had  shortly  after  our 
arrival  started  off  evidently  to  their  gardens,  returned  carrying 
between  them  a  large  pig  which  they  had  killed  to  mark  the 
rare  event  of  European  visitors  in  their  midst.  The  women  and 
girls  hurried  about  bringing  blocks  of  stone,  with  which  they 
formed  a  large  paved  area  to  serve  as  an  oven,  whereon  they 
piled  a  roaring  fire  till  the  stones  began  to  burst  from  the  heat 
in  loud  reports.      As   soon  as  the  stones  were  heated  to  the 


IN  BUEU.  399 

heart,  hastily  clearing  off  the  fire  they  threw  the  pig  body-bulk 
on  the  glowing  stones,  closely  covering  it  up  with  fresh  green 
banana  leaves.  In  little  over  an  hour  we  had  served  up  to  us 
a  piece  of  pork  baked  to  perfection,  the  most  deliciously 
flavoured  I  have  ever  tasted.  When  we  had  rested  some  time 
after  our  meal  their  jubilation  was  further  marked  by  a  musical 
performance  given  in  one  of  their  huts,  and,  as  we  were  invited 
to  attend,  I  had  an  opportunity  of  seeing  the  interior  arrange- 
ment of  their  houses. 

They  were  constructed  of  uneven  strips  of  tree  bark,  roughly 
set  up  side  by  side  on  the  unlevelled  ground,  held  in  phice  by 
narrow  rinds  of  bamboo  on  each  side,  tightly  tied  together  by 
thongs  at  the  gaps  between  each  strip  of  bark.  By  these  wide 
chinks  the  pigs  and  dogs  made  the  dwelling  as  much  theirs 
as  tlie  owner's.  The  roof  was  of  palm  thatch  and  badly  put 
on  patches  of  bark.  At  both  gables  was  a  quadrangular  hole 
to  serve  as  doorway  and  window,  closed  by  a  squarish  piece  of 
bark  hung  by  a  thong  through  a  hole  in  the  wall  above  it. 
Between  these  openings  there  ran  a  central  passage,  full  (as  I 
saw  it)  of  pools  of  water.  The  space  on  each  side  of  this 
passage  was  divided  off  by  low  bark  partitions  into  three  or 
four  narrow  stalls  (across  the  top  of  which  was  piled  their 
store  of  wood  logs)  such  as  might  be  found  in  the  worst 
possible  cowhouse ;  while  against  the  wall  where  one  would 
look  for  a  manger  was  a  small  platform  raised  two  or 
three  feet  from  the  ground,  to  serve  for  seat  or  bed.  The 
fire  was  made  anywhere  wliioh  was  for  the  moment  most 
convenient — in  the  passage,  or  in  one  of  the  stalls — the  smoke 
oozing  through  the  numerous  chinks  and  by  a  small  patch 
raised  in  one  of  the  rows  of  thatch.  There  was  not  in  the 
whole  dwelling  a  single  article  of  furniture  or  any  decorative 
artifice  or  a  single  device  for  affording  ccmvcnience  or  comfort. 

To  accommodate  me  with  a  seat  to  listen  to  the  musical 
"  function,"  a  large  stone  had  to  be  brought  in.  The  per- 
formers, who  were  of  both  sexes,  disposed  themselves  in  the 
passage  on  stones  and  logs.  The  men  sang  an  improvised 
song  to  their  own  vigorous  accompaniment  on  the  native  Ufa, 
or  drum,  to  which  the  women,  sitting  on  their  heels,  languidly 
supporting  their  heads  on  their  arms,  which  rested  on  their 
knees,  contributed  an  unchanging  refrain  at  the  end  of  every 


400  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


few  words  of  the  song.  The  men  seemed  to  enjoy  themselves, 
often  laughing  heartily  at  their  own  improvised  conceits,  but 
the  women  might  have  been  absolute  automata ;  for  not  a 
single  expression  of  pleasure,  interest,  or  enjoyment  ever 
passed  over  their  impassive  features.  Tho  exhibition  was 
one  of  the  saddest  possible  pictures  of  the  miserable  position 
among  the  Alefurus  of  the  woman,  who,  though  not  treated 
with  cruelty  or  harshness,  lives  in  abject  uncomplaining 
slavery — as  if  for  the  man  alone  all  things,  woman  especially, 
were  created. 

Next  morning,  starting  early,  we  continued  our  ascent 
through  dense  forest,  full  of  Ternstrcemaceous  trees  to 
3600  feet  above  the  sea,  the  highest  point  reached  in  our 
journey.  Just  at  the  summit  I  came  on  a  curious  Pomali  sign 
set  up  in  the  forest  to  protect  probably  some  part  of  it  from 
depradation.  Its  exact  meaning  I  could  not  find  out.  It 
consisted  of  a  low  house  shaped  structure,  somewhat  like  the 
Matakau  seen  at  Wai  Bloi  village,  and  fixed  in  the  ground, 
protected  from  harm  by  large  wide  couples  of  wood.  Under 
its  cover  six  little  pillars  were  set  in  the  ground  ;  on  the  top 
of  one  was  a  peg  a  few  inches  high  whose  tip  was  set  into  a 
cross-piece  of  sago-palm  pith  forming  a  T  device,  Avhile  into 
this  cross-piece  Avere  inserted  two  small  nails  of  wood,  each 
bearing  a  pellet,  the  root  of  the  Halia  (?  the  officinal  ginger) ; 
on  two  otliers.  whose  tops  were  encircled  by  a  rattan  girdle, 
within  which  several  wooden  wedges  were  driven,  sharp 
bamboo  sj)ikes  (such  as  are  stuck  in  the  ground  to  wound 
unwary  travellers)  were  suspended  by  a  cord  ;  the  fourth  had 
its  summit  split  for  some  length  by  two  or  three  wedges  of 
wood  ;  the  fifth,  girdled  with  a  rattan  ring,  had  a  iiicce  of  halia 
inserted  below  a  chip  of  wood  and  transfixed  to  the  summit 
with  a  peg,  while  the  sixth  was  a  luimboo  full  of  water.  The 
Alefurus  accompanying  me  said,  that  each  pillar  indicated 
a  species  of  retribution  that  would  overtake  the  trespasser. 

Commencing  our  descent  we  reached  a  stream  running  in 
a  westerly  direction,  wliich  conducted  us  to  a  few  houses  on  the 
margin  of  the  Lake,  which  had  been  visited  by  white  men  but 
three  or  four  times  in  as  many  hundred  years. 


IN  BUJRU.  401 


CHAPTER  II. 

AT    LAKE    WAKOLO. 

The  Lake — The  people  there — Garments — Cultivation — ^Arms  and  accoutre- 
ments— Marriage — Death  rites — Superstitions  about  the  lake — Explana- 
tion of  its  position  and  of  the  absence  of  fish  in  it — New  birds — Great 
disappointment — Return  to  Kajeli — Thence  to  Amboina — Compelled  to 
leave  the  Moluccas — A  kind  farewell — Leave  for  Timor. 

Mr.  Bergmann,  the  Post-holder,  had  hoped,  he  said,  to  find 
some  2000  people  living  round  the  lake,  and  to  stay  for  at 
least  a  week  or  ten  days  ;  but  we  found  only  some  seven  or 
eight  houses  as  poor  as  the  few  we  had  already  passed,  and  he 
decided  on  the  afternoon  of  our  arrival  to  start  back  in  a  couple 
of  days  to  the  coast.  This  was  a  grievous  disappointment  to 
me  after  so  difficult  and  arduous  a  journey.  As  he  would  not 
be  induced  to  stay,  and  without  the  presence  of  the  Rajahs  who 
would  accompany  him  I  could  obtain  nothing,  either  in  the 
way  of  food  or  of  porterage,  I  could  only  make  the  most, 
therefore,  of  the  few  hours  at  my  disposal.  I  devoted  the 
remainder  of  the  first  day  to  seeing  something  of  the  people, 
and  in  sketching  tlieir  f(.'atnr(!S. 

The  lake  mountaineers,  living  so  far  removed  from  all  coast 
interference,  and  rarely,  if  ever,  visiting  the  shore,  should  be 
better  representatives  of  the  Buruese  than  the  low  country 
tribes  who  are  now  quite  tinctured  in  manners  and  customs,  as 
well  as  in  race,  by  an  infinite  variety  of  influences— and  where 
indeed  is  the  race  now  to  be  found  not  so  contaminated  by 
extraneous  forces  ?  The  ideas  as  well  as  the  manufactures  of 
Avestern  lands  are  beginning  to  be  felt  and  seen  in  the  huts 
of  the  rudest  tribes,  and  among  the  people  the  most  distant 
from  civilisation.  It  is  therefore  more  incumbent  than  ever 
on  all  travellers  to  record  with  the  utmost  fidelity  every 
minutia;  of  the  customs  and  ideas  of  the  rude  peoples  they 
encounter,   for   with    the    disappearance   of   their    untainted 


402  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

legends,  words  and  thoughts,  will  die  out  a  chapter  ot  far- 
j)ast  history  that  can  never  be  recovered  again  on  the  globe. 

The  men  are  of  medium  height — averaging  about  5  feet 
2  inches — and  a  little  taller  than  the  women.  They  are  a 
weak,  emaciated,  ill-conditioned,  and  somewhat  effeminate- 
looking  race.  Many  of  them  suffer  from  the  fungoid  skin 
disease  so  often  met  with  among  the  badly  nurtured  peoples 
further  to  the  east.  They  are  not  a  warlike  people,  and  are 
not  head-hunters  like  the  Ceramese. 

In  colour  they  are  brown,  or  yellowish  brown,  and,  as  far  as 
my  observations  go,  none  of  them  are  black  as  the  Aru  jDCople 
are.  Their  hair  is  fairly  abundant  on  the  head,  but  not 
profuse,  in  fact  rather  scanty  on  other  parts  of  the  body. 
Their  faces  are  bare,  as  a  rule,  though  a  few  have  a  few  long 
hairs  at  the  corners  of  the  mouth  and  the  upper  lip.  The 
head-hair  is  not  worn  in  the  high-matted  frizzled  coiffure 
as  seen  among  some  of  the  Papuans,  but  it  is  curled  in 
a  more  or  less  loose  manner  well  seen  in  the  figure  on  the 
opposite  page.  It  is  j^arted  in  the  centre  as  a  rule,  and 
allowed  to  hang  down  on  both  sides  in  loose  irregular  curls, 
appearing  through  and  above  the  kerchief  which  is  worn 
round  the  head.  Dr.  Bastian,  in  his  '  Indonesien,'  states  that 
the  AVakolo  Lake  Buruese  have  smooth  hair ;  but  this  is  not 
absolutely  the  case.  Nearer  the  coast,  however,  hair  as  straight 
as  in  any  Sundanese  is  met  with.  That  form  of  nose  with 
high  dorsum  and  over-hanging  tiji  which  I  observed  conspicu- 
ously in  Timor-laut,  and  subsequently  in  the  interior  of  Timor, 
as  seen  in  the  concluding  Part  of  this  book,  was  not  observed 
among  the  Buruese  ;  nor  yet  that  tall  and  more  athletic  build 
of  man  (and  woman)  which  could  not  escape  observation  in 
both  of  the  islands  just  named.  The  Wakolo  women  had  the 
same  meek  and  submissive  bearing  that  I  had  noticed  in  those 
met  with  nearer  the  coast. 

Very  few  of  them  wear  ornaments  beyond  a  small  stud  of 
silver  in  the  ear ;  the  children  are  provided  with  a  piece  of 
dried  intestine  of  the  Cuscus  in  their  ear-lobes,  and  round  their 
necks  ;  while  both  sexes  wear  armlets  of  shell,  of  a  thong-like 
corneous  coralline  called  by  the  Malays  aJcar  hahar,  and  of  the 
intestine  of  the  Cuscus. 

The  garments  worn  by  the  men  were  the  usual  T-bandage, 


^"^ 


NATIVE    OF    WAKOLO    VILLAGE,    LAKE    WAKOLO. 


7.V  BUltU.  403 

and  \}\  the  women  a  short  sarong,  or  petticoat,  or  a  long  loose 
smock-like  robe. 

In  fields  cleared  out  of  the  forest — which  seem  to  belong 
to  the  man  who  has  cleared  them,  and  his  heirs,  as  long  as 
tliey  do  not  return  to  wild  forest — they  cultivate  tobacco, 
corn,  and  the  usual  sweet  tubers,  species  of  ConvoIvit\is  and 
Colocasia,  wliich  they  eat  to  tlie  juice  of  the  boiled  Sait 
(Pandaniis  eeranncus)  one  of  the  most  magnificent  scarlet 
fruits  of  their  forests.  Not  much  rice  is  grown,  but  it  is 
received  in  exchange  from  the  Alefurus  of  the  lower  country 
for  tobacco  and  tubers,  tifas  (or  drums),  and  the  strong  woven 
Coi  or  wallet,  so  universally  carried.  I  was  not  permittc  I 
to  go  into  their  fields,  as  strangers  and  coast  people  are 
tabooed,  for  fear  of  some  evil  befalling  their  poomalied  seeds, 
and  cannot,  therefore,  speak  of  their  mode  of  cultivation. 
From  the  cotton  {Gossypmta  micranthum),  which  tbey  cultivate 
themselves,  they  make  their  own  thread. 

The  only  baggage  an  Alefuru  carries  with  him  besides  his 
hau-turin  or  cudgel,  and  a  spear,  is  the  Coi,  a  strong  satchel 
slung  on  his  buttocks  by  a  cord  round  his  waist,  in  which  he 
carries  his  tobacco  and  those  })rized  comforts  of  his  tribe — siri 
leaves,  betel-nut,  and  chalk  often  contained,  in  a  slightly  orna- 
mented gourd.  In  former  times  the  women  in  every  villa-^e 
in  Burn  could  weave  these  cois  ;  now,  however,  the  lower 
country  tribes,  haviug  acquired  increased  wealth  by  the 
development  of  trade  in  the  various  products  they  so  easily 
grow  or  rear,  ajul  with  wealth  laziness  by  their  ability  to  supply 
their  wants  without  labouring,  have  quite  forgotten  or  aban- 
doned the  art,  and  are  dependent  for  their  supply  on  the 
mountaineers  to  whcmi  the  knowledge  of  their  manufacture 
is  confined.  The  cloth,  called  by  them  haiii  fuJca,  of  which 
these  satchels  are  made  is  a  very  strong  almost  indestructible 
canvas,  \\hich  they  render  perfectly  waterproof  by  rubl)ing 
into  it  the  juice  expressed  from  the  bark  of  a  tree,  Jciilit  rofu, 
probably  one  of  the  Artocarpex.  To  them  is  also  confined  the 
art  of  hollowing  out  of  Pinang  and  Nangka  {Artiwarpus)  h»gs, 
of  the  tifas  or  drums,  which  are  so  indispensable  at  all  their 
feasts  and  religious  ceremonies,  as  well  as  of  the  manufacture 
of  their  s})ears  and  knives,  the  art  of  iron  working  also  being 
forgotten  by  the  dwellers  nearer  the  coast. 


404  A   NATUBA LIST'S    WANDERINOS 

Marriage  among  them,  as  far  as  I  could  learn,  was  the  simple 
purchase  of  a  woman  for  a  large  sum  in  all  manner  of  trade 
articles,  and  is  celebrated  by  a  feast.  Very  often  she  is  pur- 
chased when  yet  a  child,  and  is  reared  in  the  house  of  her 
master  and  husband,  who  may  have  as  many  wives  as  he 
can  afford.  If  the  husband  cannot  pay  the  full  price  at  once, 
his  family  have  to  undertake  part  of  the  responsibility  of 
payment,  and  till  then  the  woman  is  in  servitude  to  the  whole 
family.  On  the  death  of  the  man  she  is  reckoned  as  part 
of  his  goods,  and  falls  with  his  other  property  to  his  heirs, 
who  may  sell  her  again  to  another  suitor  for  a  price  not 
less  than  she  has  cost. .  T)\e  children  of  the  union  are  the 
father's  exclusive  property  and  thereafter  of  his  relations.  If 
no  suitor  desires  to  marry  his  widow  she  remains  in  the 
cheerless  lot  of  a  menial  slave  and  concubine  of  the  husband's 
family. 

Their  death  rites  are  also  curious  and  interesting  as  being 
in  some  respects  similar  to  those  practised  in  different  parts 
of  Australia.  As  soon  as  life  is  extinct  the  man's  body  is 
brought  out  on  a  bier  in  front  of  his  house  and  laid  on  the 
ground,  with  the  head  in  front  of  a  stake  driven  into  the  ground. 
The  bier  is  struck  several  times  and  the  questions  put,  "  Have 
you  died  by  the  will  of  Allah  Stalla?"  or  "Has  death  been 
the  result  of  the  machinations  of  mortal  man  ?  "  If  the  body 
move  forwards  to  strike  the  stake,  the  reply  is  supposed  to  be 
in  the  affirmative.  If  the  intimation  is  that  death  has  not 
been  natural,  the  corpse  is  questioned  in  order  to  find  the 
delinquent  through  all  the  Rajah-ships,  till  the  correct  one  is 
indicated ;  then  through  all  the  Soas  or  villages,  and  through 
all  the  individuals  of  the  selected  Soa,  till  the  culprit's  name  is 
obtained,  who  is  at  once  seized  and  condemned  to  pay  a  death 
fine,  for  the  backbone  a  certain  price,  for  each  right  and  left 
rib,  for  each  hand  and  foot,  for  the  head  and  the  contents  of 
the  body,  each  a  fixed  sum  ;  altogether  a  large  amount  in 
every  species  of  trade  article. 

The  Buruese  are  firm  believers  in  Swangies,  or  spirits  of 
their  fellows  endowed  with  tiie  power  to  go  about  disembodied, 
working  evil  (generally)  to  their  neighbours.  An  individual 
with  this  power  is  greatly  dreaded,  and  derives  not  a  few 
presents,  for  the  purpose  of  retaining  his  goodwill,  as  also 


IN  BUllU.  405 

payment  from  those  who  desire  some  evil  to  befall  an  enemy 
without  suspicion  of  its  originator.  The  Swangi  is  supposed 
to  be  able  to  cover  with  misfortune  whom  he  will  without 
their  being  aware  whence  the  disaster  comes. 

Their  dead  are  buried  in  the  forest  in  some  secluded  spot 
far  from  other  graves,  and  marked  often  by  a  merang  or  grave 
pole,  and  over  which  at  certain  intervals  their  relatives  place 
tobacco,  cigarettes,  and  various  offerings.  When  the  body  is 
decomposed,  the  son  or  nearest  relative  disinters  the  head, 
wraps  a  new  cloth  about  it,  and  places  it  in  the  Matakau  at  the 
back  of  his  house,  or  in  a  little  hut  erected  for  it  near  the 
grave.  It  is  the  representative  of  his  forefathers  whose  behests 
he  holds  in  the  greatest  respect. 

The  day  after  our  arrival  was  spent  from  break  of  dav  in 
botanising,  collecting  birds,  and  in  examining  the  lake.  This 
is  a  magnificent  sheet  of  water,  several  miles  in  diameter  and 
some  40  to  50  fathoms  deep,  indented  with  many  beautiful 
bays,  embracing  the  hills  which  abruptly  rise  up  from  it  on  all 
sides.  It  was  not  an  easy  matter  to  get  the  Merinyo  of  the 
place  to  give  us  a  boat  and  rowers  to  make  an  examination  of  its 
margins,  and  only  after  a  long  invocation  to  the  spirit  of  the 
Lake  would  he  consent  to  accompany  us.  It  is  only  with 
the  utmost  awe  and  dread  that  they  trust  themselves  on  its 
surface.  They  have  many  strange  legends  concerning  it.  One 
of  these  is  that  at  certain  periods  a  Lagundi  tree  {Vitex  sp.) 
suddenly  grows  up  the  centre  of  the  Lake,  its  appearance 
being  accompanied  by  fearful  storms  of  wind  and  waves,  and 
the  terrified  cries  of  the  birds  that  crowd  its  margins.  On 
the  subsiding  of  the  storm  tlie  Lagundi  is  found  to  have  dis- 
appeared. Another  superstition  is,  that  on  the  firing  of  a  gun 
a  thunderstorm  is  liable  to  break  out,  sent  by  the  angered 
spirits.  Every  chief,  therefore,  on  his  arrival  at  the  Lake 
plants  a  white  stick  in  the  ground  as  a  signal  of  peace.  The 
AVakolo  men  who  rowed  me  kept  up  an  invocation  the  whole 
time  we  were  out,  and  they  positively  refused  to  take  me 
out  into  the  middle  or  even  very  far  from  the  shore.  A 
crocodile: — one  of  the  animals  sacred  in  the  mythology  of  Burn 
— is  also  supposed  to  reside  in  the  lake,  whence  once  a  year 
it  pays  a  visit  to  the  shore. 
,.    It  is  singular  that  no  fish   except  eels  live  in  its  waters. 


40G  A   NATUBALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

Lying  in  the  very  centre  of  the  island,  at  a  height  of  some 
1901)  feet  above  the  sea,  and  surrounded  by  high  hills — except 
at  one  point,  where,  it  is  said,  though  I  could  not  detect  any- 
thing to  assure  me  of  the  truth  of  the  statement,  that  the 
Wai  Nipe  runs  out  of  it^it  has  much  the  appearance  of 
a  lake  filling  up  the  crater  of  an  old  volcano,  to  which  their 
legend  of  its  periodical  troubling  may  have  some  reference. 
The  margins  of  the  water  were  set  with  flags  and  shrubby 
pandans,  which  gave  shelter  to  thousands  and  thousands  of 
ducks  (Bendrocygna  guttata)— oi  which  I  secured  a  large 
number — little  Grebes  (Podiceps),  and  Cormorants  (Phalocra- 
corax),  and  several  species  of  AVater-hen  {Porphyrio).  The 
whole  day  was  spent  in  spinning  these  birds,  and  putting  up 
the  plants  in  drying  paper. 

On  the  following  day  some  of  the  women  returning  from 
their  fields  brought  me  a  specimen  of  a  Myzomela,  which  they 
had  taken  with  the  gum  of  an  Artocarpus  tree,  Avhich  delighted 
me  immensely,  as  no  species  of  this  genus  was  then  known  to 
extend  so  far  to  the  west.  It  turned  out  on  examination  to  be 
an  undescribcd  species,  which  I  have  named  Myzomela  ivalco- 
loensis.  I  asked  them  to  show  me  where  the  specimen  had 
been  obtained ;  but  as  it  was  in  their  gardens  which  are 
tabooed  to  coast  people,  I  would  not  persuade  them  to  admit 
me.  On  offering,  however,  a  large  reward  for  additional  speci- 
mens, several  women,  set  off  back  to  their  fiehls,  whence  in  the 
afternoon  they  returned  with  a  quite  number  all  fluttering  on 
a  string ;  most  of  them  had  lost  their  tails  and  were  entirely 
smeared  with  gum,  a  few  only  being  at  all  presentable. 
Among  these  true  scarlet  JMyzomelas  was  an  immature  Nec- 
tarine bird  in  a  wretched  condition,  with  the  basal  portion  of 
its  beak  greenish-yellow  and  the  rest  black,  which  is  pro- 
bably also  another  and  unknown  species  of  Myzomela.  By 
working  continuously  right  through  the  night  till  sunrise, 
the  whole  of  the  skins  were  ready  for  transport,  as  well  as 
nearly  a  hundred  species  of  plants. 

When  the  coolies  were  mustered  to  shoulder  the  baggage 
only  two  or  three  put  in  an  appearance,  the  rest  had  de- 
serted, and  only  after  impressing  into  our  service  some  of 
the  women  did  we  manage  to  start  with  the  food  necessary  for 
the  journey.    It  was  not  with  the  most  amiable  feelings  toNvards 


IN  BUBU.  407 

the  Authority  at  Amboina  that  I  was  f:rced  to  leave  behind 
me  the  herbarium  I  had  taken  such  pains  to  collect.  The 
skins  I  carried  myself,  leaving  my  own  men  free  to  assist  with 
the  food  supply.  Beaching,  with  our  overburdened  porters, 
the  little  hamlet  of  Wasilale,  where  we  had  spent  a  night 
on  our  coming,  my  companion  Avho  was  suffering  from  fever, 
wished  to  remain  till  the  attack  had  passed ;  we  agreed,  there- 
fore, that,  as  I  was  anxious  to  reach  Kajeli  before  the  arrival 
of  the  Amboina  steamer,  I  should  press  on  in  advance  with 
my  own  servants  and  baggage,  and  on  arrival  at  the  Bloi 
river  send  him  the  necessary  additional  porters.  On  the  fore- 
noon of  the  fifth  day  from  the  Lake  I  reached  the  Wai  Bloi 
village,  whence  I  despatched  assistance  to  my  companion,  and 
reached  Kajeli  the  same  evening. 

I  had  hoped  to  be  able  to  get  across  to  the  region  in  the 
S.E.  of  the  Bay  of  Kajeli,  where  alone  in  Burn  the  singular 
Hog-deer  (the  Bahirusa),  which  is  known  elsewhere  only  in 
Celebes,  Avas  to  be  found  ;  but  again  I  was  disappointed  for 
want  of  porters  and  rowers.  This  singular  animal  uses  its 
curious  upturned  and  hooked  teeth,  the  natives  told  mc,  to 
hold  to  the  bottom  of  ponds  by,  when  hard  pressed  by  hunters. 

So  disappointed  was  I  with  my  trip  to  Burn,  from  which 
I  had  hoped  much,  and  might  have  accomplished  much  but 
for  a  display  of  absurd  and  petty  jealousy,  that  I  was  glad 
when  the  steamer  of  the  12  th  arrived  from  Batjian  to  carry  me 
back  to  Amboina,  which  was  reached  the  same  evening. 

Finding  that  3Ir.  Eiedel's  attitude  towards  us  was  such  as  to 
make  it  quite  useless  to  attempt  to  carry  on  any  investiga- 
tions in  the  islands  of  the  Moluccas  under  his  sway,  I  determined 
to  leave  for  a  time  to  attempt  a  journey  in  the  interior  of 
the  little  known  region  of  Timor  under  the  Portuguese  crown. 
It  is  only  fair  to  state  that  the  conduct  of  the  Resident  was 
utterly  repudiated  by  the  Dutch  Government  in  Java,  and 
on  my  arrival  in  Batavia,  six  months  afterv^ards,  1  I'eceived 
from  them  the  kindest  and  most  ample  apologies. 

The  steamer,  from  whicli  I  had  just  disembarked,  having 
to  remain  two  days  in  Amboina,  we  hastily  packed  up  our 
belongings  and  continued  our  voyage  in  the  same  vessel.  The 
friends  through  whom  this  last  sojourn  in  Amboina  had  been 
made    S)    full  of  enjoyment,  Mr.   Justice  and  Madame  Van 


408  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

De venter,  the  Commander  of  the  troops  Colonel  Demini,  now 
H.E.  the  Governor  of  Acheen — to  whom  I  am  indebted  for 
the  gift  of  a  large  and  valuable  collection  of  ethnological 
objects  from  Coram — Major  Van  der  Weide,  the  Chief  of 
the  Medical  Staff,  and  Dr.  and  Madame  Machik,  our  most 
kind  hosts  to  whom  we  owe  our  introduction  to  so  many- 
delightful  friends,  paid  us  the  compliment  of  accompanying 
us  on  board  to  say  farewell. 


IN  BURU.  409 


APPENDIX  TO  PAET  Y. 


I.  List  of  the  Birds  of  Buru,  rompUed  from  papers  hij  Mr.  A.  E. 
Wallace  in  P.  Z.  S.  1863,7?.  18-36,  Inj  Count  T.  Salvadori  in  Ann. 
del  Mus.  Civico  di  ktor.  Nat.  di  Genova,  VIII.,  the  Author^s  oiun 
Collection,  and  other  sources. 

1.  Haliastur  leucosterniis,  G/)m7J. 

2.  Baza  iheinwardli,  Sch.     Timor.     Moluccas. 

3.  Accipiter  rubricollis,  Wal.     Ceiani.     Gilolo. 

4.  Accipter  cruentus.  Gould.     Timor. 

5.  Athene  hantu,  W'aJlaep. 

6.  Scops  I  urucusis,  Sharpe. 

7.  GeolVioyus  riioiloi  s,  (J.  7?.  (?r.     Amboina.     Ceram.     Goram. 

8.  Eclectus  caidiiiiilis,  Bi  dd.     Molm-cas.     New  Giiiuea. 
0.  Taiiygnatlius  affinis,  Wal.     Amboina.     Ceram. 

10.  graniineus,  Gm. 

H.  A)  rosmictus  biiruensie, /SaZp. 

12.  Trichoglofsiis  cyaiio<Trammus,  Wugl.     Ceram.     Papuan  Islands. 

13.  Eo:j  rnbrit,  Gm.     Amboina.     Ceram.     Matabello  Islands. 

14.  Capi  imiilgns  mncrurus,  i/or*i/.     AVliole  Archipelago. 

15.  Deudmchelidon  mys  aceus.  Less.    Moluccas.     New  Guinea. 
IG.  Cacomant  s  virescens,  Briigg. 

17.  Eudynaniis  orientalis,  Linn.     Ceram. 

IS.  (cntropus  mediiis,  Bp.     Ceram.     (iilolo. 

19.  8cythrops  nova;-liollandia\  Lath.     Tiirior. 

2ii.  Sauropati.s  chloris.  Bod.     Wimle  Archipelago. 

21.  Halcyon  saiicta,  Vig.  <fr  Ilcrsf.     Enstwaid  Islands. 

22.  Alccdo  ispidoides,  Less.     Celebes.     Gilolo. 

23.  Tanysiptera  ncis.  Wall. 
24..CcyxCajeli,  Wall. 

2^.  ^lerops  ornatus,  Lnlh. 

2<3.  Euryfetornus  pacificus.  Lath.    Eastward  Islands. 

27.  P.tta  riibrinuciia.  Wall. 

28.  IJudytes  viridi.s  Gus. 

29.  Acrocephalu.s  auslralis,  Gould. 

30.  Cisticola  rustica.  Wall. 

31.  Pliyllopneubte  javanica,  J?7). 

32.  Oriolus  burucnsi?,  Quoij  k  Gains. 

33.  Crinigcr  mystiealis,  Wall. 

34.  Artanius  leticogaster,  Val. 

35.  Myiagra  galeata,  G.  II.  Gr. 
3(5.  Monarcha  loricata,  Wall. 

37.  Khipidiira  tricolor,  Vied.     Moluccas.     New  Guinea. 

38.  buruensis,  Wal. 
39. 

40.  Pacliyccphala  clio.  Wall. 

41.  lineolata.  Wall 

42.  rufesconi^.  Wall. 

43.  DIcruriis  amboineusis,  G.  B.  Gr.     An.boina.     Ceram. 


410  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

44.  Edoliisoma  marginatum,  Wall. 

45.  Philemon  moluccensis,  Gm. 
4G.  Dicajura  erythrothorax,  Less. 

47.  Zosterops  chloris,  B;p. 

48.  Myzomela  WAKOLOiixsis,  E.  0.  Forbes.  P.  Z.  S.  1883,  p.  IIC.  ^Fig.  Gould, 
B.  New  Guinea,  part  18.) 

The  full-dress  bird  is  entirely  scarlet,  the  bases  of  the  feathers  being 
black ;  the  wiags,  the  tail,  and  the  preocular  spot  are  black ;  the  iipper 
"wing-coverts  are  black  with  a  scarlet  band  on  the  outer  webs  nearly  in 
the  middle,  but  not  extending  to  the  extremity  of  tbe  feather :  the  inner 
margins  of  the  remiges  are  white  ;  the  irides  are  rich  brown ;  the  edges  of 
the  lower  maxilla  yelloAV ;  tongue  yellow  ;  legs  and  feet  yellowish  green ; 
soles  yellow. 

The  young  male  is  at  first  almost  entirely  greyish  brown ;  the  throat  is 
pale  grey ;  but  quite  below  the  maxilla  and  under  the  eyes  the  orange-red 
colour  indicates  the  coming  scarlet ;  the  back  is  greyish-brown,  but  of  a 
deeper  colour  in  the  uropygial  region  ;  the  wings  and  the  tail  are  brown- 
ish grey;  the  breast  and  under  tail-coverts  greenish  fulvous;  the  margins 
of  the  upper  wing-coverts  pale  fawn  colour  with,  in  some  lights,  reflections 
of  red ;  the  margins  of  the  remiges  are  olive-grey ;  the  throat,  the  front 
of  the  head,  the  breast,  and  the  uropygial  recion  are  the  first  to  assume 
the  scarlet  colour  of  the  adult ;  the  angle  of  th.e  wing  has  a  dirty-white 
spot,  which,  with  the  olive-grey  margins  of  the  remiges,  are  the  last  to 
change  to  black. 

49.  Ncctarinia  proserpiua.  Wall. 

50.  Cyrtostomus  zeuobia,  Less.     Amboina.    Ccram.     Kc. 

51.  Culnrnis  obscura,  Bp.     ISlolucoas. 

52.  Munia  molucca,  Moluccas.     Tinior-laiit. 

53.  Osmotreron  aromatic.i,  Gm.  Amboina.     Cerani. 

54.  jVIyristicivora  melanura,  G.  M.  Gr.     Moluccas. 

55.  Carpophajra  pcrspicillata,  Temm.     Batjian.     Gilolo.    "NVaigion. 
5G.  Ptilopus  rivolii,  Frev. 

57.  \indis,  Amboina.     Ccram.     Goram. 

58.  Macropygia  amboinensis. 

59.  Clialcophaps  indica. 

GO.  Megapodius  forsteni,  Temm. 

Gl.  wallacii.     G.  IL  Gr. 

G2.  Glarcola  grnllaria,  Temm.     Australia. 

G3.  Charadrius  fulvus,  Gm. 

C4.  magnirostiis.  Lath.     Celebes,     ^rcw  Guinea.     Timor-laut. 

05.  Nuraenius  iiropygialis,  Gould. 

GO.  Strepsilas  interpret,  Linn. 

G7.  Hevodias  egretta,  Gmel. 

G8.  Butorides  javanica.  Uorsf. 

G9.  Bubulcus  coromandus,  Lodd. 

70.  Ardetta  tlavicollis.  Lath. 

71.  Nyciicorax  caledonicus,  Gmel.     Australia  to  the  Keeling  Islands,  in  tlie 

Indian  Ocean. 

72.  Porpliyrio  melanopteriis,  Temm. 

73.  Erythra  leucomelajnn,  <S'.  Miill. 

74.  Gall  inula  frontata,  Wall. 
75    Ortygomotra  cinerea. 

7G.  Hypotffinidia  philippensis,  Linn. 

77.  Dendrocygna  guttulata,  Temm.     Ceram.     Celebes. 

78.  Tadorna  radja.  Less.     Moluccas,     New  Guinea.     Timor-laut. 

79.  Podiceps  tricolor,  G.  li.  Gr.     Moluccas. 

80.  Pbalocracorax  melanoleucus,  Vieil. 

81.  Sterna  melanauchen,  Temm. 


IN  BUIiU. 


411 


II. — Description  of  a  Neiv  Species  o/'Tenakis. 

Tcnaris  buruensis,  Mihi,  sp.  nov. 

Allied  to  T.  aitups ;  ditfers  in  having  the  fore-wings  of  a  less  oval  form 
and  more  broailly  marked  with  brown  at  the  apex,  the  hind-wings  not 
suffused  with  ochreous  at  the  base,  and  the  ocellus  niucli  larger,  with  a 
well-defined  pupil,  as  in  T.  diiam,  Butl. ;  on  the  underside  it  differs  in 
having  the  a])ical  brown  band  of  the  fore-wings  broader,  and  the  ocelli  on 
the  hind-wings  much  larger  and  more  broadly  bordered  with  brown  ;  the 
ground  colour  of  both  wings  is  of  a  sordid,  instead  of  pure  white  as  in 
catojis.    Buru,  16  Nov.,  1882,  No.  2379. 


III.    Some  Bunicse   Words. 


alive 

deneve                          } 

banana 

fuat 

boat 

waga 

bird 

mnnut 

butterfly 

laliin 

come 

komahi 

deep 

dowd 

deaf 

daprcngeinoh                 i 

dead 

damata 

Deity 

Alia-stalla 

eat 

niakah 

car 

anting-antiTig 

evening 

niodaii 

iire 

bana 

finger 

ialian  wangiUi 

flower 

sawin 

lather 

iiama 

far 

bronian 

fish 

ikan 

foot 

kadan 

fruit 

fuan 

great 

bagu 

give 

luikc' 

good 

gossa 

hand 

lalian 

liasto 

naik-naik 

hold 

pesse 

l:ot 

hinduin 

huni^ry 

lappa 

liead 

ulun 

liair 

ulun-fulun 

leaf 

karutnun 

man 

gaba-mana 

nij,'ht 

detok 

rattan 

uah 

river 

wai 

road 

tuhuu 

stone 

vatu 

star 

gai 

slowly 

maru-niara 

speak 

Farah 

taboo 

kuing 

tree 

kaun 

tongue 

maiiti 

woman 

fina 

wind 

anin 

wood 

■  kau 

north 

Giwa  rete 

south 

,.     la  wo 

east 

Hangat  kehia 

west 

„       aebo 

sun 

Hangat 

moon 

Fulari 

PART   VI. 


IN  TIMOR. 


CHAPTER  I. 

SOJOURN   AT   FATUXABA. 

Arrival  at  Dilly — Dreadful  effects  of  fever — Search  for  a  site  for  a  house — 
The  town  of  Dilly  au  ethnographical  studio — Fatunaba — Our  residence — 
The  enchanting  view  thence — Interesting  birds  and  plants — Difficulty 
with  servants — Preparations  for  departure  into  the  interior — Dialects. 

Sailing  on  the  15th  of  December  from  Amboina,  we  spent  a 
couple  of  days  in  our  favourite  strolling-ground  of  Banda,  and 
sighted  Timor  early  on  the  19th,  anchoring  at  noon  in  the 
harbour  of  Dilly,  where  we  were  heartily  welcomed  by  our 
old  friends  the  Governor,  Major  da  Franca,  and  his  family. 
We  were  above  measure  saddened  to  see  their  terribly 
emaciated  countenances,  which  proclaimed  more  forcibly  than 
words,  the  pestiferous  nature  of  the  climate.  One  of  their 
number — the  youngest — already  slept  under  the  shade  of  the 
Santa  Cruz  ;  in  all  of  them  the  notorious  Dilly  fever  had 
killed  down  the  cheerful  vivacity,  buoyancy  of  spirit  and 
bright  eye  with  which  they  had  stepped  ashore  in  the  month 
of  May.  With  the  utmost  kindness  commodious  apartments 
were  oftered  us  in  the  Palace,  but  it  was  perfectly  evident 
that  if  I  wished  to  accomplish  any  successful  work  in  Timor, 
it  could  not  be  from  Dilly  as  a  centre,  constantly  exposed  to 
the  pestilence  that  nightly  rises  from  the  marshes  surrounding 
the  town. 

On  proposing  to  make  our  residence  somewhere  on  the  hills, 
the  Governor  suggested  to  me  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
convent  of  Lahani,  situated  a  few  miles  behind  the  town  in  a 
picturesque  valley.  Though  more  salubrious  than  any  part  of 
the  town  itself,  the  locality  was  still  too  mucli  within  the 
fever  zone  to  tempt  us  to  court  a  renewed  attack  of  the 
malaria,  whose  dire  cifects  we  had  sufficiently  experienced  in 
Timor-laut. 


416  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

Early  on  the  following  morning,  therefore,  on  horses  kindly 
provided  by  the  Government  Secretary,  Mr.  Bento  da  Franpa, 
and  accompanied  by  Senhor  Albino— one  of  the  most  genial 
spirits  and  most  influential  officials  in  Dilly.  who  in  his  own 
person  was  Master  of  the  Port,  Director  of  Public  Works,  and 
Colonel  of  the  native  troops — we  rode  up  the  hills  in  quest  of  a 
location.  A  damp  mist  hung  about  the  town  as  we  started, 
but  when  we  had  ridden  a  few  miles  southward  and  ascended 
some  300  feet,  the  sun  rose  and  displayed  before  us  a  land- 
scape whose  great  beauty  I  was  utterly  unprepared  for,  dis- 
lieartened  somewhat  as  I  was  by  the  hot  sandy  town  and  the 
depressing  effect  of  the  fever-stricken  condition  of  the 
Euroj)eans.  Before  we  had  reached  500  feet  above  the  sea,  I 
felt  as  if  ill  a  new  atmosphere,  so  fresh  and  exhilirating  was 
the  air.  Now  winding  round  the  flanks  of  deep  glens,  the 
watercourses  dug  out  by  the  rain  (for  there  was  neither  path 
nor  road  otherwise),  now  ascending  slopes  so  steep  as  to  make 
it  impossible  to  sit  on  horseback  without  clutching  grimly 
to  the  mane,  now  by  the  edge  of  sheer  precipices,  the  path 
brought  us,  at  1700  feet,  to  a  coffee-garden  whose  shrubs 
growing  under  deep  shade,  exhibited  the  richest  display  of 
fragrant  blossom  that  I  have  ever  seen.  Close  by  on  a  pro- 
jecting shoulder,  over  which  the  summit  of  the  mountain  rose 
1000  feet  higher,  was  a  grassy  plateau  of  a  few  yards  in  width 
commanding  a  view  of  unexamj)led  beauty,  and  convenient  to 
a  quiet  nook,  where  under  the  shade  of  a  grove  of  Kanary 
trees  a  sparkling  stream  fell  with  a  noisy  purl  over  a  rocky 
projection  into  a  shallow  pooh  A  few  feet  in  front  of  the 
plateau  the  ground  dropped  suddenly  into  the  wooded  sides  of 
a  precipitous  valley,  widening  out  as  it  descended,  till  its 
enclosing  spurs  broke  off  abruptly  in  the  green  seaward  plain, 
beyond  which  the  white  spire  of  the  church,  the  Governor's 
Palace,  the  grey  dwellings  of  the  natives,  and  the  guard-ship 
lying  m  the  bay,  glinted  through  the  palms.  Due  north  full 
in  our  face,  rose  abruptly  out  of  the  sea  the  high  blue  j^eaks  of 
Pulo  Kambing,  while  half  hidden  by  the  arms  of  the  valley 
down  which  our  view  extended,  on  the  left  the  lofty  eastern 
buttresses  of  Allor,  and  on  the  right  the  serrated  ridges  of 
Wetter,  touched  the  sky,  boundaries  within  which  the  blue 
sea  lay  calm  as  an  inland  lake.     No  second  thoughts  were 


IN   TIM  OB.  417 


necessary  to  decide  that  our  dwelling  should  stand  there,  and  I 

carried  back  with  me  to  A a  sweet-scented  rose  plucked 

from  a  bush  growing  near  the  spot  as  a  hopeful  token  of  the 
goodness  of  the  site.  During  our  descent  a  largish  beetle 
banged  itself  against  my  hat,  which  I  found  to  my  delight 
to  be  a  specimen  of  the  rare  rose-chaffer  (Lomaptera  timGren- 
sis),  the  only  known  specimen  of  which,  if  I  mistake  not, 
taken  some  twenty  years  before  by  Mr.  AVallace  in  this  very 
island,  has  remained  unique  ever  since.  On  my  arrival  at  the 
Palace,  breakfast  was  proceeding,  and  I  placed  my  prize  under 
a  glass  shade  in  the  room  I  occupied  till  my  return  from  the 
table.  Alas,  during  my  absence  a  servant  had  cleared  away 
the  noxious  Ucho,  and  I  never  afterwards  saw  another  speci- 
men ! 

While  arrangements,  in  response  to  the  kind  mandate  of 
the  Secretary  to  the  native  Eajah  of  Motael  in  whose  territory 
the  Fatunaba  hills  lay,  were  being  made  for  the  erection  of  a 
bamboo  hut  for  me,  we  spent  some  very  interesting  days  in 
Dilly.  The  town,  though  vastly  improved  since  Mr.  Wallace's 
visit,  was  still  disappointing  in  many  respects,  and  its  Hibiscus- 
lined  streets  looked  poor  and  uninviting.  The  lack  of  money 
to  carry  out  efficiently  the  necessary  municii^al  arrangements 
was  painfully  evident.  No  more  enlightened  or  energetic 
regime  could  be  desired  than  that  under  the  officers  at  the 
head  of  affairs  during  our  sojourn  in  Dilly,  through  whom — 
and  I  use  no  mere  terms  of  compliment — had  the  necessary 
resources  been  at  their  disposal,  Portuguese  Timor  might  have 
caught  the  tide  of  prosperity  she  has  long  waited  for. 

In  going  into  the  various  offices  and  shops  I  was  struck  to 
find  all  business  conducted,  not,  as  in  the  Dutch  possessions, 
in  the  lingua  franca  of  the  Archipelago,  Malay,  but  in  Portu- 
guese. It  has  been  a  feature  of  all  the  countries  occupied  for 
any  length  of  time  by  the  Portuguese  that  they  have  so 
indelibly  impressed  their  own  speech  on  the  rude  tribes  they 
have  conquered,  that  its  words  have  remained  a  part  of  their 
language  centuries  after  their  rule  has  passed  away.  On  the 
other  hand,  in  the  Netherlands  colonies  comparatively  few 
Dutch  words  have  been  thus  kindly  naturalised.  In  the 
different  quarters  of  the  town  native  police  posted  in  little 
encampments  are  always  on  guard,  and  during  the  still  nights 


418  A   NATUBALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

it  was  curious  to  hear  from  Timorese  throats  the  Alerto  sta  !  at 
the  stroke  of  every  hour.  Besides  the  official  staff  very  few 
Europeans  live  in  Dilly ;  the  entire  trade  of  the  island  being 
conducted  by  Arabs  and  (chiefly)  by  Chinamen. 

The  streets  of  Dilly  itself  offer  to  the  traveller  a  fine  studio 
for  ethnological  investigation,  for  a  curious  mixture  of  nationa- 
lities other  than  European  rub  shoulders  with  each  other  in 
the  town's  narrow  limits.  At  a  single  glance  one  sees  that  this 
crowd  has  few  elements  in  common  with  that  seen  at  Cupang, 
in  the  west.  Tall,  erect  indigenes  mingle  with  Negroes  from 
the  Portuguese  possessions  of  Mozambique  and  the  coasts  of 
Africa,  most  of  them  here  in  the  capacity  of  soldiers  or  con- 
demned criminals ;  tall,  lithe  East  Indians  from  Goa  and  its 
neighbourhood  ;  Chinese  and  13ugis  of  Macassar,  with  Arabs 
and  Malays  and  natives  from  Allor,  Savu,  Roti,  and  Flores  ; 
besides  a  crowd  in  whose  veins  the  degree  of  commiuglement 
of  blood  of  all  these  races  would  defy  the  acutest  computation. 
It  was  interesting  to  study  the  character  of  each  in  their 
unconscious  ways  one  among  each  other.  The  Hindu,  with 
a  stately  bearing,  carried  himself  with  a  natural  yet  not 
offensive,  air  of  superiority  ;  the  non-dominating,  provident, 
industrious,  unobtrusive  Mongolian  wended  his  way,  obtain- 
ing rather  than  asserting  the  next  place,  and  was  looked  on 
Avith  respect  and  good-neighbourly  consideration  ;  the  sturdy 
Africano  rollicked  about,  noisy  (generally  drunk),  careless, 
improvident,  hated  and  feared  by  the  indigenes,  who  frater- 
nising with  none  of  the  interlopers  in  their  land,  and  keeping 
themselves  quite  to  themselves,  sat  about  in  small  companies 
under  the  trees  or  on  the  shore,  or  moved  about  in  their  erect, 
haughty,  somewhat  sullen  and  suspicious  way,  but  not  at 
all  shunning  the  town  like  the  West-Timor  people.  The 
Arab  led  his  secluded  life  among  his  own  race,  energetic, 
taking  many  hard  rebuffs  Avith  few  words,  while  the  Malays, 
semi-Malays  and  trading  peoples  fraternised  pretty  freely 
with  each  other  on  the  shore  and  over  the  sides  of  their 
praus. 

The  shop  of  Ah  Ting,  Major  of  the  Chinese,  was  my 
favourite  study-room  while  in  Dilly,  for  there  during  the 
whole  day  came  and  went  an  endless  succession  of  these 
nationalities  for  the  purpose  of  barter  or  simply  to  lounge. 


IX  TIMOR,  419 

The  most  marked  characteristic  of  the  Timorese  is  their  in- 
dependence and  self-assurance.  With  the  utmost  sang  froid 
they  would  occupy  all  the  chairs  reserved  for  the  use  of 
Europeans,  without  for  a  moment,  even  on  the  entrance  of  an 
official  of  the  Government,  thinking  of  offering  to  give  place, 
although  on  being  asked  they  would  remove  with  perfect  good 
will,  as  if  it  liad  been  a  simple  omission  on  their  part  not  to 
have  done  so  before.  It  is  innate  in  him  to  feel  that  he  is  as 
good  as  any  one  else.  Towards  their  own  rajahs,  however, 
they  show  much  deference  and  respect,  if  not  servility.  One 
regrets  the  difficulty  that  exists  in  portraying  in  written  words 
the  life  and  vigour  of  these  scenes. 

It  was  interesting  to  observe  the  wide  contrast  between 
the  character  of  the  ]\Iongolian  and  that  of  the  Timorese. 
The  former  with  extreme  patience  and  perfect  good  humour, 
over  and  over  again  taking  down,  exhibiting,  putting  up, 
discussing  the  price  of  the  same  piece  of  goods  with  the 
same  individual,  who,  regardless  of  time,  with  him  the  most 
inexhaustible  element  in  nature,  would  break  off  without  a 
word,  to  examine  a  score  of  different  things  that  might 
chance  to  catch  his  eye,  or  to  join  in  some  discussion  carried 
on  by  his  friends  away  in  the  street  perhaps,  by-and-bye 
to  return  to  only  to  break  off  again  from  his  bargaining, 
which  cannot  possibly  be  concluded  till  one  after  another  of 
liis  companions  has  in  whispered  consultation  given  his  idea 
of  the  transaction  under  consideration.  When  at  last  he  has 
made  up  his  mind  to  purchase  or  exchange  his  produce  for, 
say,  cloth  of  so  many  arm-stretches,  if  he  is  not  of  more  than 
ordinary  stature,  he  brings  the  very  tallest  man  of  his  ac- 
quaintance to  be  his  standard  of  measurement,  who  considers 
it  a  duty  to  his  friend  to  adopt  every  possible  device  to 
expand  his  chest  and  arms.  Placing  the  end  of  the  web  at 
the  tip  of  the  longest  finger  of  his  left  hand,  and  making  a 
gigantic  inhalation,  he  runs  his  right  arm  out  to  the  fullest 
extremity  of  his  finger-tips,  invariably  succeeding  in  getting 
an  inch  or  two  more  than  he  ought  as  he  picks  up  the  mark, 
from  which  he  will  on  no  account,  even  though  his  eyes  be 
never  taken  off  the  spot,  remove  his  finger  till  the  cloth  has 
been  cut.  Should  by  chance  he  move  his  finger  the  slightest 
degree,  the  whole  measurement  must  be  done  over  again,  and 


420  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

even  after  the  portion  he  has  purchased  has  been  severed  it 
must  be  measured  several  times  over  both  by  himself  and  his 
friends.  The  suspicious  Timorese  has  wasted  his  (to  him) 
valueless  time,  and  has  satisfied  for  the  moment  his  fancy ; 
the  Mongolian  has  a  profit  both  on  the  produce  he  barters  for, 
as  well  as  on  the  commodity  he  disposes  of,  and  by  degrees 
amasses  riches  which  the  other  can  never  attain  to. 

On  Christmas  Day,  1882,  with  two  natives  of  Goa  as 
servants,  the  only  men  who  could  be  persuaded  to  venture 
among  the  hills  with  me,  I  removed  to  Fatunaba  to  super- 
intend the  erection  of  my  bungalow,  making  my  temporary 
quarters  in  a  native  shed  in  the  coffee-gardens. 

As  the  royal  salute  of  twenty-one  guns  boomed  from  the 
fort  below  me  on  New  Year's  Day,  I  was  reminded  that  I  ought 
to  be  having  a  holiday ;  but  had  I  left  the  men,  even  for  a  few 
hours,  not  one  of  them  would  have  been  found  on  my  return, 
and  days  would  have  been  required  to  hunt  them  up.  On  the 
3rd,  A.  joined  me,  and  by  the  6th  the  house  was  completed 
— though  the  grass  roof  did  not  look  at  all  rain-proof — rather 
to  the  astonishment  of  the  Timorese,  who  perhaps  had  never 
done  so  continuous  a  piece  of  work  in  their  lives  before. 
When  the  work  was  quite  finished  they  demanded  a  pig  to 
celebrate  the  ev^ent,  in  accordance  with  custom  ;  but  as  I  had 
neither  flocks  nor  herds  they  had  to  forage  in  the  neiglibour- 
hood,  whence  one  of  them  returned  shortly  with  a  nice  fat 
specimen  on  the  point  of  his  spear,  which,  despite  our  most 
urgent  protestations  and  threats,  they  cut  up  and  divided  in 
their  own  savage  way  on  our  new  and  deliciously  clean 
verandah.  By  a  bribe  of  kanipa  (gin)  all  round  we  were 
relieved  of  the  pleasure  of  seeing  them  cook  and  devour  it. 

By  next  day,  all  our  baggage  and  the  implements  of  our 
trade  and  profession  having  been  dragged  up  the  cliff-like  face 
01  these  "  Tiring-rocks,"  as  "  Fatunaba  "  signifies,  our  house 
was  set  in  order.  Notwithstanding  its  want  of  elegance,  and 
an  ominous  lean  that  it  had  to  one  side,  our  pile  dwelling 
with  its  three  rooms  opening  in  a  line  on  to  the  verandah, 
was  very  comfortable  and  very  convenient.  An  extra  apart- 
ment was  fitted  up  to  serve  for  a  bath-room  in  bad  weather, 
when  the  delicious  natural  shower-bath  in  the  stream  below 
our  door  couldn't  be  used. 


IN   TIMOR.  421 


We  were  now  ready  for  work ;  but  before  beginning  in 
earnest,  we  decided  to  take  one  undisturbed  day  of  rest.  It 
was  a  delightful  holiday  of  inactivity.  We  were  both 
enchanted  with  the  outlook  from  our  verandah,  whence  a 
single  turn  of  the  eyes  commanded  a  wide  and  varied  scene. 
It  would  be  as  useless  to  attempt  as  impossible  to  describe 
the  beauty  and  our  intense  enjoyment,  of  the  hourly  effects 
from  dawn  to  twilight,  the  myriad  combinations  of  the  sun- 
light on  the  near  hills,  on  the  surface  of  the  sea,  and  on  the 
island  peaks  of  Allor,  Kambing,  Wetter,  whose  ridges  and 
crests  rising  at  varying  distances  caught  the  sunlight  at 
every  angle  and  in  every  degree  of  intensity.  We  felt  that 
it  was  well  worth  not  a  few  privations  to  live  day  after  day  in 
the  face  of  a  scene  of  such  surpassing  loveliness. 

My  Goa  men  were  both  able  to  shoot,  but  as  neither  of  them 
could  skin  at  all  well,  my  ornithological  collections  got  on 
very  slowly,  for  I  myself  gave  the  most  of  my  time  to  the 
gathering  of  plants,  which  had  not  been  at  all  carefully  collected 
in  Timor,  while  of  the  ornithology  of  the  island,  JMr.  Wallace 
had  already  given  us  the  chief  features.  Though  no  new 
birds  were  shot,  those  obtained  were  of  great  interest  to  us. 
especially  the  kakuak  {Philemon  timorensis),  whose  curious 
bawling  cry  in  the  gum-trees  was  invariably  the  first  to 
awaken  the  silence  of  the  dawn  and  the  last  to  break  off  at 
night,  and  which  had  the  exact  habits  of  its  relative  which  I 
discovered  at  Larat  (P.  Umorlaoensis).  As  there,  so  here  also, 
a  species  of  Oriole,  mimicking  it  in  colour  and  in  form  so 
closely  as  to  be  almost  indistinguishable  when  both  birds  are 
in  the  hand,  was  constantly  seen  feeding  in  the  same  tree  with 
it.  That  in  each  of  these  different  islands  of  the  Austro- 
Malayan  region  an  Oriole  should  seek  protection  under  the 
segis  of  the  habits  and  strength  of  this  one  genus  of  birds 
and  of  no  other  equally  powerful  or  fleet  group,  and  that  in 
the  islands  of  the  neighbouring  region,  where  true  Orioles 
abound,  it  has  not  been  found  to  occur,  is  one  of  the  most 
curious  and  remarkable  facts  in  the  whole  of  Natural  History. 
Neo}mttacus  euteles,  a  gorgeous  little  green-and-scarlet  parrot, 
aud  the  fine  white  cockatoo  (Cacatua  sulphurea) — the  males 
with  black,  and  the  females  with  red  eyes — abounded  round 
our   dwelling,   and   gave    us   daily   great   pleasure   by   their 


422  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

liveliness  and  by  the  snowiness  of  their  plumage.  One  very 
bold  visitor  we  could  not  bring  ourselves  to  destroy  even  to 
add  to  our  collection,  the  lovely  scarlet  Mi/zomela  vulnerata, 
which,  when  we  were  quiet,  often  hopped  down  even  on  the 
rail  of  our  verandah  from  its  favourite  perch  on  the  top  of 
a  gum-tree  close  by.  A  Musswnda  frondosa  bush,  and  the  tall 
grass-stems  on  the  other  side  of  the  path  from  our  hut  were 
constantly  resorted  to  by  several  species  of  Finch,  the  pigmy 
Amadina  insularis,  the  Munia  ijollida,  and  the  Estrelda 
flavidiventris. 

My  own  hunting  grounds  were  the  slopes  above  our  hut, 
where  the  vegetation  was  very  different  from  that  which  I  had 
hitherto  been  accustomed  to  in  the  richly-clad  western  islands 
or  in  the  humid  Moluccas.  I  can  scarcely  say  that  we  had 
any  true  forest,  for  the  trees  rarely  entwined  their  crow  ns  over- 
head, and  the  ground  was  covered  with  sparse  grass  sufficient 
to  give  it  a  park -like  look.  The  precipitous  ravines  afforded 
the  only  really  dense  vegetation  that  existed  where  out  I  laid 
the  foundation  of  a  promising  herbarium.  My  means  of  dry- 
ing the  specimens,  however,  were  very  limited,  as  I  could  not 
manage  at  that  time  to  requisition  more  labour  to  erect  a 
drying-house  ;  and  unless  in  these  regions  plants  are  dried 
by  fire  heat,  they  become  mouldy  in  a  very  short  time  even 
with  the  most  careful  attention,  and  are  then  a  terrible  heart- 
break to  the  collector.  I  was  specially  gratified  in  gathering 
on  the  bare  hot  clayey  face  of  the  mountain  a  lovely  little 
sun-dew  (Drosera  lunata)  growing  luxuriantly  in  extensive 
patches.  Accustomed  to  gather  its  kin  at  home  in  boggy 
heaths,  I  was  surprised  to  find  it  flourishing  in  so  dry  an 
exposure  ;  but  on  digging  it  up  I  found  it  lield  a  store  of 
moisture  against  hard  times  in  the  tuberous  roots  with  which 
it  was  provided.  This  was  a  characteristic  of  not  a  few  of  the 
herbaceous  jilants  growing  on  these  arid  slojjes.  Another 
plant,  also  of  a  home-family,  one  of  the  Vacciniacese  aiforded 
us  a  rare  pleasure,  like  a  breath  from  home  every  time  we 
ascended  to  2000  feet.  This  shrub,  of  an  undescribed  species 
I  am  delighted  to  find,  grew  in  the  ravines  in  the  form  of  a 
tall  bush,  and  has  an  open  tross  of  rich  scarlet  waxy  bells.  Its 
low  habitat  in  so  hot  a  region  is  somewhat  surprising ;  but 
the  amount  of  "  grey  beard  "  lichen  with  which,  like  the  rest 


IN  TIMOR.  423 


of  the  vegetation  about  it,  it  was  loaded,  told  how  cool  and 
moist  an  atmosphere  it  was  living  in. 

Among  the  tall  grass  fields  one  of  the  commonest  orchids 
was  the  white  sweet-scented  Uabenaria  susannie,  remarkable 
for  the  great  length  of  its  nectaries.  Diurnal  lepidoptera  were 
noticeably  very  few  at  Fatunaba  ;  but  at  night  more  moths 
(belonging  only  to  a  few  species)  than  at  any  other  station 
where  I  had  lived,  crowded  to  my  lamp.  Among  them  the 
most  abundant  were  two  moderate-sized  Nocture,  a  new  species 
of  Opliiocles  and  Remigia  virhia,  and  a  largish  species  of 
Humming-bird  moth  {Protoparce  orientalis).  I  made  it  a 
point  daily  to  watch  the  fertilisation  of  these  Habenarias. 
They  were  invariably  cross-fertilised  during  the  night  by  a 
moth  which,  as  it  always  left  a  few  of  its  hairs  on  the  stigma, 
I  feel  certain  is  the  same  as  one  and  perhaps  both  of  the 
Noctuse  just  mentioned,  but  the  tongue  of  both  species  is 
far  too  short  ever  to  reach  more  than  half-way  down  towards 
the  minute  drop  of  sweetness  concealed  at  the  very  tip 
of  the  nectary.  The  large  pollinia  in  many  cases  had  been 
carried  only  as  far  as  one  of  the  petals  or  to  a  neighbouring 
leaf,  as  if  the  moth,  finding  the  burden  too  great  for  it,  had 
rested  there,  and  succeeded  in  freeing  itself  of  them. 

Collecting  was  carried  on  till  the  end  of  February  witli  all 
the  vigour  possible,  my  herbarium  esjDCcially  rapidly  increasing 
in  size ;  but  I  had  fully  expected  to  have  been  by  then  far  in 
the  interior.  The  weather,  however,  had  been  very  disastrous 
for  us,  and  we  had  had  much  difficulty  with  our  servants.  It 
was  a  weary  tramp  up  to  Fatunaba  from  Dilly,  and  as  all  our 
provisions  had  to  be  carried  by  our  own  men,  they  very  soon 
tired  of  the  exertion  that  this  entailed,  and  of  living  so  far 
from  the  hcuiipa  stores  of  the  town.  One  of  the  Goa  men 
was  an  inveterate  toper,  and  had  very  soon  to  be  discharged. 
His  place  was  taken  by  a  younger  brother,  who  proved  a  good 
and  willing  servant ;  but  he  could  not  stand  the  cold  nights  of 
the  mountains,  so  when  he  left  in  ill-health,  followed  soon 
after  by  his  brother  dismissed  for  larceny,  their  place  was 
filled  by  an  AUor  youth,  who  knew  a  little  Malay.  Goma 
was  a  servant  faithful  as  a  dog,  strong  and  willing  to  work, 
but  having  not  the  slightest  idea  of  European  ways,  which  he 
had  never  seen,  he  afforded  us  much  amusement,  if  not  much 


424  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

profit,  by  his  willing  attempts  to  serve  us.  As  he  was  only- 
delaying  in  Dilly,  for  a  favourable  wind  to  go  home  by,  we 
soon  lost  him,  and  for  a  whole  fortnight— days  of  privation 
anything  but  slight — we  had  to  rely  on  ourselves  for  the 
performance  of  all  our  domestic  duties,  till  our  kind  helper, 
Senhor  Albino,  sent  us  a  Timorese,  the  son  of  a  chief  in  one  of 
tlie  kingdoms  of  the  interior,  who  had  been  for  some  time  a 
prisoner  in  Dilly,  but  whose  freedom  was  restored  to  him  on 
the  sole  condition  of  his  serving  us  faithfully  as  long  as  we 
wanted  him. 

The  results  of  the  haste  with  which  our  thatched  roof  was 
finished  off  soon  became  evident  enough.  At  times  not  a  single 
spot  in  the  hut — except  where  our  bed,  roofed  over  with  a 
waterproof  sheet,  stood — was  dry.  Everything  of  value,  there- 
fore, that  we  possessed,  food,  books,  plants,  gunpowder,  clothes, 
had  to  be  stored  on  or  under  this  piece  of  furniture,  so  that  we 
derived  little  rest  or  comfort  from  it.  The  repeated  gales  bent 
the  hut  itself  so  far  that  it  would  have  been  carried  down  the 
valley  but  for  a  couple  of  gum-trees  which  I  had  to  fell  and 
prop  it  up  with.  Our  food  supply  was  wretchedly  poor  and 
very  scanty,  often  necessitating  a  purchasing  expedition  to 
Dilly  to  replenish  our  stores — visits  which  in  our  solitary  life 
were  red-letter  days  from  the  few  hours  of  Euiopaan  inter- 
course with  our  kind  friends  at  the  palace  which  they  brought 
us,  for  which  we  invariably  paid  dearly,  however,  in  fever 
attacks — in  A.'s  case  of  a  very  violent  kind — a  few  days  after 
our  return,  Notwithstanding  all  these  drawbacks,  we  had  no 
lack  of  enjoyment  of  a  most  serene  description  in  this  rough 
and  ricketty  abode — if  in  nothing  else,  certainly  in  the  inex- 
pressibly delightful  scene  ever  before  us  under  the  morning 
and  evening  sun,  and  in  the  bright  moonlight  nights. 

With  the  natives  we  had  a  good  deal  of  intercourse,  as  they 
came  often  past  our  hut  on  their  way  to  Dilly  wth  their 
produce — chiefly  Indian  corn  and  European  potatoes.  Their 
character  did  not  gain  favourably  on  us.  If  their  demands  for 
hanifa  were  not  complied  with,  they  took  themselves  off  in  a 
very  offensive  and  threatening  way,  muttering  curses  as  they 
went.  If  not  watched  closely,  they  were  apt  to  think  that 
various  useful  or  attractive  objects  of  ours  were  belongings  of 
theirs.     Among  them  some  had  frizzy,  some  had  straight  hair. 


IN   TIMOR  425 


some  tall,  others  again  short  and  stumpy — while  in  other 
characteristics  they  varied  so  much  that  it  is  impossible  to 
believe  them  to  belong  to  a  pure  race. 

The  weather  by  the  middle  of  March  having  showed  signs  of 
clearing,  the  Governor  with  great  kindness  gave  orders  for  an 
escort  to  be  ready  to  accompany  me  into  the  interior  as  soon  as 
travelling  could  be  considered  safe. 

March  29th. — To-morrow,  at  last,  I  shall  be  able  to  start,  my 
transport  ponies  having  arrived  this  evening.  To  my  dismay, 
however,  only  half  as  many  as  are  necessary  for  my  baggage. 
On  inquiring  of  the  Hindu  officer  in  charge,  I  find  that  it 
would  require  a  week  to  collect  the  extra  number  I  wish. 
The  only  thing  now  possible  is  taking  only  a  portion  of  the 
botanical  drying-paper  which  is  bulky  and  heavy,  to  advance 
at  once  to  Bibipupu  and  send  back  for  the  rest.  The  saddle 
for  the  pony  I  am  to  ride  has  been  forgotten  also.  The 
escort  consists  of  the  Hindu  officer,  who  is  to  act  as  my  guide, 
interpreter  and  adviser,  and  is  charged  with  full  authority 
over  the  rajahs  in  whose  kingdoms  I  may  stay,  a  Hindu 
corporal,  and  an  official  of  the  Eajah  of  Motael's  kingdom 
through  which  we  first  pass,  who  is  to  be  relieved  by  a  like 
officer  from  each  kingdom  in  which  I  may  sojourn.  He 
must  attend  from  his  own  Rajah's  headquarters  to  the  head- 
quarters of  the  next  Rajah,  and  is  responsible  for  every  item, 
not  of  my  baggage  only,  but  of  my  person  also,  till  relieved  by 
his  fellow  in  the  neighbouring  kingdom.  My  own  authority 
is  a  friendly  and  most  plenary  document  addressed  to  all  the 
Rajahs  that  I  may  meet  in  the  interior. 

The  whole  of  East  Timor  is  apportioned  out  under  certain 
chiefs  called  Leoreis,  each  of  whom  is  independent  and  abso- 
lute in  his  own  kingdom.  At  present  there  are  forty-seven  of 
these  ;  but  many  of  them  possess  far  greater  iuflueneo  than, 
and  exercise  a  sort  of  vassalage  over,  the  others.  Each  lieno, 
or  kingdom,  is  divided  into  districts  each  of  which  is  called  a 
Suhu,  ruled  over  by  a  Data,  who  receives  his  orders  from 
the  Leorei  by  a  special  officer  appointed  for  that  purpose. 
The  Dato  has  under  him  two  other  officials,  a  Caho  and  a 
Tenente  *  who  assist  him  in  the  regulation  of  the  Suku. 

Nearly  every  kingdom  has  its  own  dialect.     Crawford  says 
*  These  terms  are  probably  adopted  from  the  Portuguese. 


426  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

that  in  Timor  there  are  forty  different  languages.  I  am  not 
in  a  position  to  say  whether  they  are  dialects  or  languages ; 
but  I  observed  that  in  some  districts  the  people  did  not 
understand  the  speech  of  their  neighbours. 

I  feel  quite  anxious  at  leaving  A.  here  alone.  Female 
servants  are  impossible  to  be  found  in  Dilly;  but  the  old 
woman  who  looks  after  the  coffee-gardens  near  us,  has  agreed 
to  sleep  in  the  hut  within  her  call,  and  to  assist  her  in  her 
few  domestic  duties.  She  herself  will  not  hear  of  any  one 
else,  and  scouts  the  idea  of  danger  from  the  natives,  and  is 
quite  brave  over  it.  Our  friends  at  the  palace  desire  her  to 
make  her  home  with  them,  but  the  fever  risks  of  Dilly  are  too 
great.  I  do  not  like  the  neighbours  over  much,  and  am  far 
from  comfortable  in  the. idea  of  leaving  her  so  unprotected. 


7.V   TIMOR.  427 


CHAPTER  II. 

ON   THE   ROAD   TO   BIBICU^U. 

Start  for  the  interior — Vegetation  on  the  way— Roads — Camp  on  Erlura — 
Mt.  Tehula — Kelehoko  and  its  tiora— Pass  a  nio;lit  under  the  eaves  of  a 
native  dwelling^ — Huts  in  trees — Bed  of  the  River  Komai — Pass  a  niglit 
on  Ligidoik  Mountain — Character  of  country — Valley  of  the  VVaimatang 
Kaimauk — Singular  scene — Unburied  relatives — Burial  rites — Grave- 
sticks — Rites  attending  a  king's  death — Swangics — Lose  our  way — 
Flora  on  Turskain  mountain — Rajah  of  Turskain's — Botanical  excur- 
sions— The  rites  of  the  sacred  Lull  and  the  choosing  of  warriors — The 
Rajah. 

After  many  hours  spent  in  arranging  the  burdens  of  the 
different  ponies  and  men,  I  despatched  the  cavalcade  at  eleven 
o'clock  (March  30th).  The  officer  expressed  the  greatest  asto- 
nishment at  all  absence  of  timidity  on  A.'s  part  on  being 
left  alone  ;  but,  on  being  reminded  that  she  was  an  "  English 
Senhora,"  he  appeared  satisfied  that  the  fact  was  sufficient  to 
explain  the  phenomenon.  He  encouraged  her  with  assurances 
that  there  was  nothing  to  fear  for  my  safety,  swearing  to  her  on 
the  cross-hilt  of  his  sword  that  if  anything  befell  me  it  would 
be  over  his  body,  and  solemnly  charged  also  the  little  old 
woman  who  was  to  be  her  factotum,  that  if  she  failed  in  her  duty 
she  might  expect,  on  my  return,  all  the  calamities  that  her 
superstition  could  picture  to  her.  Having  constructed  for 
myself  a  saddle  and  stirrups  out  of  my  Ulster  coat  and  a 
rope  looped  at  both  ends,  and  given  A.  a  last  assuring  word, 
I  followed  the  cavalcade,  ascending  the  well-known  path 
above  our  hut  to  2500  feet,  where,  turning  eastward  along 
the  summit  of  the  ridge,  we  travelled  parallel  to  the  coast,  on 
our  way,  in  the  first  instance,  to  the  Kajah  of  Turskain's. 

The  vegetation  was  almost  exclusively  Melastomacese,  with 
acacias,  tamarinds,  and  gum-trees,  while  in  the  narrowest  and 
most  inaccessible  gorges  tall  graceful  tree-ferns  abounded 
among    thick    shrubbery,    whose    components    I   could    not 


428  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

identify,  and  in  many  places  broad  areas  of  Setaria  and  Pas- 
palum  grass  took  the  place  of  all  other  vegetation. 

No  such  thing  as  a  road  exists  anywhere  in  Timor.  All 
the  paths  follow  the  knife  ridges  of  the  hills,  or  skirt  along 
the  face  of  precipitous  slopes,  invariably  in  deep  ditch-like 
trenches,  out  of  which  a  stumble  would  fatally  land  either 
horse  or  man  hundreds  of  feet  below.  The  Timor  horses  are 
wonderfully  sure-footed,  and  seem  quite  accustomed  to  these 
difficult  ways. 

Having  started  late  in  the  forenoon,  it  was  found  impossible 
to  reach,  before  sunset,  the  hut  where  we  had  intended  to 
camp.  As  we  had  no  food  with  us  for  the  men,  we  were  com- 
pelled to  practise  the  highwayman's  art  on  the  numerous 
natives  loaded  with  maize,  whom  we  met  going  towards 
Dilly.  From  each  of  them,  tlie  rajah's  officer — an  official  of 
their  own  king — demanded  a  few  heads,  which  after  some 
display  of  authority,  were  generally  given  up.  After  several 
acts  of  this  kind,  I  was  surprised  to  see  that  those  meeting 
us  even  an  hour  later,  on  catching  sight  of  us  a  long  distance 
off,  darted  aside  down  the  first  declivity  out  of  our  way,  and, 
laden  though  they  were,  generally  managed  to  escape.  The 
intelligence  of  our  coming  had  been  conveyed  to  them  from 
the  nearest  hill-top  the  first  mulcted  people  had  reached. 
It  is  astonishing  with  what  ease  and  accuracy  the  Timorese 
can  convey  intelligence  from  one  mountain  crest  to  another. 
Nearly  every  man  carries  in  his  wallet  (which  he  never 
travels  without)  a  short  wooden  pipe,  by  whose  curious  notes 
he  can  convey  signal  sounds  to  a  long  distance  ;  but  by  the 
unaided  voice  they  are  able,  in  a  series  of  what  seem  only 
demoniacal  howls,  to  hold  long  dialogues  from  peak  to  peak 
across  wide  valleys.  It  was  in  this  way  doubtless  that  our 
men  were  nearly  done  out  of  their  supper,  which  according  to 
the  laws  of  their  kingdom  the  officer  was  within  his  right  in 
demanding. 

Reaching  about  five  o'clock  a  little  plateau,  known  as 
Erlura,  at  3500  feet  above  the  sea,  where  we  found  a  well  and 
several  tall  gum-trees  with  their  stems  hollowed  out  by  fire, 
we  camped  for  the  night.  After  seeing  the  baggage  stowed 
inside  the  trees,  I  occupied  the  time  till  dark  in  assiduously 
collecting  the  herbaceous  plants  which  dotted  the  ground.    The 


IN  TIMOR. 


429 


district  being  notorious  for  robbers,  we  picketed  the  horses 
at  dark  within  a  quadrangle  of  fires — not  an  unnecessary  pre- 
caution ;  for  in  the  middle  of  the  night  we  heard  very  sus- 
picious low  whistle-calls  several  times  repeated,  which  gave 


SIGXALLIN'G    PIPE. 


vigour  to  tlie  "  Alerto !  "  of  our  guard.  The  Timorese  arc  very 
clever  horse-stealers,  I  understand,  and,  by  abducting  them 
off  from  tlie  veiy  side  of  their  owners,  the  astutor  thieves 
among  them  have  obtained  the  re})utation  of  being  Swangies, 
who  have  the  power  of  making  their  bodies  invisible. 
29 


430  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

Next  morning  at  sunrise,  after  I  had  taken  a  round  of 
bearings,  Ave  started  in  a  south-easterly  direction,  continually 
climbing  as  on  the  previous  day,  along  hog's-back  ridges  and 
round  precipitous  gorges.  On  the  bare  red  clay  of  Mount 
Tehula,  at  4200  feet,  I  gathered,  with  great  delight,  a  new 
species  of  Epacridaceas  a  heath-like  plant,  which  formed  inter- 
rupted shrubberies  all  over  its  summit.  From  Tehula  by  a 
shallow  saddle,  we  reached  Kelehoko,  4600  feet,  where  un- 
horsing to  rest  for  an  hour,  I  made  a  most  interesting  collec- 
tion of  plants,  many  of  them  belonging  to  European  families 
and  genera,  violets  (F.  ixitrinii),  geraniums,  bright  azure 
CamjKmuIacew  on  the  bare  red  soil,  oxalis,  and  a  new  species 
of  Orchids,  Diuris  fryana  of  Kidley ;  and  near  it,  among  the 
grass,  a  new  bright  species  of  the  ScrophnJariacepe,  belonging 
to  the  genus  Buchnera.  Hence  winding  down  the  valley  of 
the  Komai,  on  foot,  as  the  path  was  very  steep  and  unsafe,  we 
reached  about  half-way  the  house-cluster  of  a  native  known 
to  my  guide,  who  had  been  over  all  this  country  during 
various  revolts. 

As  it  was  beginning  to  rain,  we  decided  to  camp  here  for 
the  night,  and  asked  to  occupy  a  part  of  the  man's  house. 
To  this  he  replied  that  his  dwellijig  was  at  our  disposal,  but 
for  our  own  sakes  he  had  rather  we  did  not  go  inside,  as  a 
child  of  his  had  been  buried  only  the  day  before,  and  he  was 
ashamed  of  the  smell  left  by  the  dead  body;  but  we  might,  if 
we  liked,  occupy  the  platform  below  the  eaves.  We  accord- 
ingly spent  the  night  in  this  rather  cramped  situation,  com- 
pletely protected  from  rain,  and  in  the  morning  discovered 
that  the  whole  story  of  the  child's  death  w as  a  myth ;  but  I 
have  no  doubt  that  we  were  more  comfortable  outside,  if  the 
wreaths  of  smoke  that  oozed  through  the  wicker-work  sides  of 
the  house  gave  us  any  idea  of  the  purity  of  the  atmosphere 
within. 

The  Timorese,  differing  from  the  peoples  of  the  Indo- 
IMalayan  region  or  of  the  Tenimber  Islands,  do  not  live  in 
villages,  but  more  like  the  Buruese,  in  a  cluster  of  family 
residences,  or  in  isolated  habitations  often  far  distant  from 
any  other  dwelling.  This  Fatete  homestead,  a  single  family 
abode  of  one  or  two  houses,  was  placed  in  the  centre  of  an 
enclosure  strongly  fenced  in  by  high  palings  made  of  longi- 


IX  TIMOR.  431 


tudinal  planks  and  logs  of  trees  intertwined  with  growino- 
bamboos  and  thorny  shrubs.  The  gateway  was  closed  by  a 
door  of  a  broad  solid  slab  of  wood,  swung  on  its  lintels  by  the 
two  pivots  left  projecting  at  the  upper  and  lower  corners, 
and  secured  by  a  bar  of  a  slender  tree.  Just  inside  the  gate 
stood  a  little  shed,  occupied  every  night  by  a  sentinel  on 
guard,  and  where  I  observed  a  '•'  dummy  "  head  on  the  top  of 
a  pole  as  a  warning  to  thieves  and  robbers  of  the  reception 
that  awaited  them.  Within  the  enclosure  were  stockaded 
wallowing-pools  for  the  owner's  buffaloes,  and  stalls  for  his 
goats  and  ponies  in  times  of  alarm,  while  the  ubiquitous  pig, 
his  most  treasured  possession,  had  its  usual  quarters  beneath 
the,  dwelling.  The  houses  Avere  of  bamboo,  the  walls — in 
which  there  were  no  windows — being  of  several  layers  of 
wicker-work  matting,  raised  several  feet  off  the  ground  on 
strong  pillars.  The  floor  projected  some  feet  beyond  the  walls 
all  round,  forming  the  platform  under  the  eaves,  on  which  we 
camped.  Their  dwellings  are  not  divided  into  apartments, 
but  there  are  stall-like  divisions,  which  can  be  closed  by 
curtains,  and  are  used  for  sleeping  in.  A  spot  is  alwavs  railed 
off  for  the  sacred  {luU)  spear,  knife  and  gun,  before  which 
the  head  of  the  house  makes  a  propitiatory  offering  to  speed 
his  particular  undertakings.  Outside  the  enclosure,  in  the 
tops  of  the  taller  of  the  gum-trees,  were  curious  miniature 
huts,  which  I  at  first  thought,  from  the  absence  of  any 
ladder,  might  be  pigeon-houses  ;  but  they  turned  out  to  be 
their  granaries — reached  by  climbing  the  trees — and  the 
depositories  of  the  more  valuable  portion  of  their  house- 
hold effects,  such  as  plates,  bowls  of  European  make,  and 
cloths.  They  are  invariably  placed  in  high  trees  whose 
trunk  was  divided  into  four  divaricating  arms,  on  which 
two  diagonal  planks  can  be  fixed  to  support  a  firm  floor. 
They  are  said  to  be  little  subject  to  the  depredations  of 
rats  ;  but  they  seemed  most  tempting  objects  to  every  prowl- 
ing thief.  It  may  be,  however,  that  they  are  protected  by  the 
sanctity  of  the  taboo — or,  in  their  own  language,  are  luJi. 

Next  day,  descending  by  the  usual  ditch-like  paths  and 
zig-zagging  down  land-slipped  gorges  we  reached,  at  3000 
feet  above  the  sea,  the  bed  of  the  river  Komai,  a  wide  channel 
several  hundred  yards  in  breadth,  paved  with  soft  blue-black 


432  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


pebbles  and  sand,  through  which  instead  of  one  hxrge  river 
numerous  small  independent  streamlets,  some  of  them  pure 
and  sparkling,  but  most  of  them  of  a  blue  inky  hue,  were 
meandering  their  course,  A  few  of  these  slaty  stones  were 
of  red  or  yellowish  colour ;  I  myself  observed  no  granite, 
but  my  boy  brought  me  a  porphyritic  nodule.  Our  way  lay 
down  the  river-bed,  the  only  good  road  we  had  yet  traversed, 
between  banks,  from  100  to  150  feet  in  height  of  jDerfectly 
horizontal  stratified  pebbles,  laid  down  in  the  bed  of  some 
former  lake  or  estuary  through  which  the  river,  by  the  slow 
elevation  of  the  land  is  now  cutting  its  way.  Tall  casuarinas, 
loaded  with  staghorn-ferns.  grew  at  the  bases  of  these  pebbly 
cliffs  and  dotted  the  dry  portions  of  the  river-bed. 

When  we  had  readied  a  point  2000  feet  above  the  sea,  we 
left  the  river,  turning  to  the  right  up  the  long  steep  slope  of 
the  Ligidoik  Mountain,  on  whose  top  at  3400  feet  we  unhorsed 
to  lunch  close  to  the  barricaded  dwelling  of  a  sub-chief  of  the 
Motael  kingdom  in  which  we  still  were.  Notwithstanding 
the  threats  of  the  official  of  their  own  kingdom  in  attendance 
on  me,  we  could  not  succeed  in  purchasing  anything  of  an 
eatable  kind  except  some  Indian  corn  for  the  men,  and  had  to 
be  content  with  the  meagre  provisions  I  had  myself  brought. 
Just  as  we  were  about  to  resume  our  march  rain  commenced  to 
fall  in  torrents,  compelling  us  to  demand  shelter,  which  was 
ungraciously  conceded  to  us,  as  on  the  previous  night  below 
the  eaves  of  a  most  wretched  hovel. 

From  our  elevated  position  the  whole  country  within  the 
sweep  of  the  eye  was  of  a  most  singular  conformation,  being 
entirely  composed  of  knife-edges,  peaks,  and  precipitous  slopes 
of  deep  valleys.  It  surprised  me  to  observe  that  it  was  the 
most  inaccessible  peaks  and  isolated  crags  that  were  crowned 
by  dwellings,  hidden  from  sight  generally  among  groves  of 
trees.  It  was  easy  to  see  that  I  was  travelling  in  a  lawless 
land  where  every  man's  hand  was  against  his  neighbour,  and 
where  therefore  every  man  was  constantly  and  restlessly  on  tbe 
outlook. 

On  the  following  morning  (April  2),  after  I  had  taken  a 
series  of  bearings  to  all  the  prominent  peaks,  we  continued 
our  journey  south-eastward,  descending  450  feet  to  the  Vekele 
stream,  only  to  wend  our  way  up  again  550  feet  to  the  crest  of 


IN  TIM  on.  4:J3 


Lebetiitu,  over  a  bleak,  stony,  almost  grassless  country.  No 
sooner  had  we  reached  the  crest  than  we  began  to  descend 
once  more — but  less  abruptly — into  the  wide  valley  of  the 
Wai-Matang-Kaimauk.  The  change  to  a  new  set  of  muscles 
was  at  first  very  agreeable,  but  ere  long  I  found  myself  wish- 
in<>-  that  we  were  going  up,  the  very  reverse  of  what  I  was 
praying  for  just  before  we  came  over  the  ridge  above  us. 
There  was  no  improvement  in  the  road,  which  as  hitherto 
wound  along  in  an  interminable  drain,  barely  wide  enough 
for  single  file,  worn  in  some  places  so  deep  and  narrow 
as  to  admit  only  with  difficulty  our  baggage-laden  ponies, 
which,  startled  by  the  grating  of  their  burdens  on  the  sides  of 
the  defile,  were  constantly  bolting — crashing  along  headlong, 
till  their  panniers  were  left  behind,  or  themselves  jammed 
fast  utterly  blocking  the  way,  as  the  towering  mass  of  the 
mountain  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  precipitous  cliffs  on  the 
other,  or  precipitous  cliffs  on  both  hands,  prevented  all  passage 
forwards  or  backwards.  It  seems  to  me  impossible  for  a  proper 
road  ever  to  be  made  across  thef  island,  for,  from  the  moun- 
tainous character  of  the  country  and  the  unstable  nature  of 
the  soil,  the  best  constructed  way  must  inevitably  disappear 
each  rainy  season.  "The  land  of  Timor  is  always  falling,"  is 
the  natives'  own  account  of  the  country. 

liooking  down  into  this  valh^y,  the  scenery  was  of  a  most 
singular  and  striking  description.  The  river  was  itself  the 
most  prominent  feature,  like  a  livid  blue-black  band  drawn 
athwart  the  landscape,  clouding  rather  than  enlivening  it ; 
on  the  further  side  the  mountains,  sculptured  into  peaks  and 
crags,  rose  so  precipitously  as  to  seem  insurmountable,  while 
their  slopes  wore  disfigured  by  perpendicular  livid  blue  escarp- 
ments thrown  down  by  landslips  into  the  valley ;  on  our  own 
side  of  the  river  several  giant,  wildly  picturesque  trihedral 
pillars  of  rock,  all  of  them  of  nearly  equal  height,  reared  their 
crags  above  the  level  of  the  mountain  slope  for  some  500  feet. 
Between  two  of  these  great  pillars  the  homestead  of  the  Dato 
of  the  Suku  of  Sauo,  was  most  romantically  and  enticingly 
situated,  and  as  it  was  already  late  in  tho  afternoon,  I  decided 
to  claim  his  hospitality  for  the  night. 

Before  reaching  his  homestead  1  noted  at  a  scented  lemon 
shrub  the  first  butterfly — a  PajyiUo  —I  had  seen  since  leaving 


434 


A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


Fatuiiaba.  Indeed,  life  of  all  kinds  had  been  exceedingly 
conspicious  by  its  absence  ;  save  a  scarlet  T riclioglossiis  or  a 
cockatoo  flying  across  our  path,  and  a  few  crows  at  Erlura,  I 
had  seen  no  birds,  and  the  vegetation  since  crossing  the 
Ligidoik  river  had  been  very  poor  indeed.  A  few  casuarinas, 
acacias,  gimi-trees,  and    some    rougli-leaved    Compositie  being 

the  only  vegetable  forms.  The 
slopes  on  the  other  side  looked 
somewhat  more  tree-dotted,  how- 
ever, but  the  bare  red  ground 
displayed  itself  over  a  large  part 
of  its  area.  A  few  hundred  yards 
from  the  homestead  gate  we 
passed  a  cranary-looking  hut  in 
the  to  J)  of  a  liigh  tree  with  a 
number  of  bundles  dangling  from 
its  floor.  On  inquiring  what  they 
were,  I  was  surprised  to  be  told 
that  they  v.ere  dead  bodies — 
folded  at  the  thighs,  and  wrapped 
in  mats — relatives  of  the  Dato 
waiting  to  be  buried  ! 

Entering  through  a  high-barred 
gateway,  we  found  the  homestead 
to  consist  of  eight  or  ten  well- 
built  houses  of  a  somewhat  dif- 
ferent style  of  architecture  from 
that  prevalent  near  the  coast. 
(Surrounded  by  a  high  stone  wall 
surmounted  by  a  cactus  hedge, 
and  built  on  a  rocky  buttress  jut- 
ting out  over  a  precipitous  gorge, 
it  was  unapproachable  except  on 
the  one  side  by  which  we  entered.  AVhen  we  had  settled  in  the 
empty  guarda  to  which  we  were  at  once  conducted  by  tlie  Dato 
himself,  tiie  first  civility  and  token  of  friendship  that  passed 
between  the  chief  and  my  Hindu  guide,  as  representing  me, 
was  the  exchange  of  siri,  pinaiig,  and  chalk.  Each  prepared 
his  quantum,  and  stuffed  it  into  his  mouth,  but  before  adding 
to  it  the  chalk,  of  which  each  had  taken  the  proper  quantity 


TKEE-ULTS   WITH    DEAD   BODIES   SUS' 
I'ENDED    BELOW. 


IN  TIMOR.  435 


into  the  hollow  of  his  hand,  "  Maman  ?  "  (may  I  eat  ?  ),  said 
my  guide,  with  an  obeisance,  following  the  proper  etiquette, 
to  which  the  Dato  replied,  "  Maman "  (eat).  This  little 
ceremony  had  an  instant  effect  in  loosening  the  tongues  of  our 
hosts,  who  kept  up  an  unbroken  dialogue  till  long  after  dark. 

Just  at  sunset  we  were  surprised  by  the  intrusion  of  a  man, 
who  beat  a  long  and  vigorous  tatoo  on  a  drum  suspended  in  the 
centre  of  the  building,  to  give,  as  was  explained  to  us,  informa- 
tion to  the  neighbourhood  that  the  remains  of  the  father  and 
of  some  other  relatives  of  the  Dato — an  old  white-haired  man 
— which  had  been  dangling  some  thirty  years  in  the  tree-top 
which  we  had  just  passed,  were  at  last  to  be  buried,  and  that 
every  night  till  the  feast  was  ready  the  drum  would  be  beat  at 
sunset.  I  had  observed  an  unwonted  activity  of  rice  and 
Indian-corn  stamping,  and  remarked  the  wealth  of  pigs  and 
goats  that  we  had  to  make  our  way  through  as  we  entered,  all 
now  explained  as  preparations  against  the  day  of  burial. 

When  a  member  of  a  family  dies,  at  least  three  duties  are 
imperative  on  the  surviving  relatives  before  the  body  can  be 
buried.  First,  every  blood  relative  without  exception  is  bound 
to  give,  either  in  person  or  by  proxy,  a  gift  of  greater  or  less 
magnitude  to  the  deceased.  On  arriving  where  the  dead  body 
is,  each  donor  places  his  gifts  on  or  near  the  corpse,  and 
within  its  hearing  fires  off  as  many  shots  of  his  gun  as  he  can 
afford,  the  greater  the  number  the  greater  is  his  respect,  it  is 
supposed,  for  the  departed.  The  other  essentials  are  a  death 
and-burial  feast.  If  the  defunct  have  been  a  lowly  person 
with  few  relatives,  a  small  feast  will  suffice  to  satisfy  the 
demands  of  custom.  If,  however,  he  have  been  of  some  rank, 
with  many  relatives  and  a  wide  acquaintance,  these  must  be  on 
a  scale  commensurate  with  his  position ;  and  so  serious  are  the 
demands  that  custom  requires,  that  the  death  feast  alone  often 
reduces  the  family  to  abject  poverty,  necessitating  the  delay 
of  the  funeral  for  months,  years,  or  even  a  whole  century,  till 
such  time,  in  fact,  as  the  relatives  and  descendants  are  able  to 
provide  the  necessary  costly  feast.  The  corpse,  whicli  has 
been  lying  where  it  died  during  these  first  tedious  cere- 
monies, is  then  folded  at  tlie  hips,  bundled  up  in  a  mat  and 
suspended  by  a  cord  below  the  floor  of  the  curious  dovecot- 
like huts  in  the  trees  which  I  have  spjken  of,  to  wait  inter- 


436  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


ment;  or  in  some  districts  it  is  placed  on  a  bier  in  a  little 
hut  prepared  for  it  near  the  dwellinf;:  of  the  nearest  relative. 
If  a  son  die  before  his  father's  remains  have  been  committed 
to  the  ground,  the  primary  and  imperative  duty  of  burial  de- 
volves on  his  heir  with  his  other  obliiiations.  The  knowledge 
of  "  who  is  who  "  among  the  various  dangling  remnants  of 
humanity  is  handed  down  from  each  inheritor  to  each  suc- 
ceeding heir  of  the  obligation  ;  when  at  last  sufficient  buffaloes, 
pigs,  goats,  Indian  corn,  rice,  and  kanipa  for  a  feast  in  accord- 
ance with  the  rank  of  the  deceased  have  been  amassed,  the 
body,  in  such  condition  as  it  happens  to  be,  is  laid,  attired  and 
ornamented  in  its  best  garments  and  finery,  in  a  short  wooden 
coffin  dug  out  of  a  block  of  wood,  along  with  the  various  gifts 
which  the  relatives  had  perhaps  decades  before  bestowed  on 
it,  and  the  whole,  wrapped  in  a  "  patola,"  or  ornamented  cere- 
cloth, is  committed  to  the  grave  amid  the  firing  of  guns  and 
the  wailing  of  women. 

From  the  time  the  funeral  company  arrives,  which  is 
generally  many  days  before  that  actually  appointed  for  the 
interment,  buffaloes  and  horses,  sheep  and  pigs  are  ruthlessly 
butchered  to  satisfy  the  insatiable  appetites  of  these  savages, 
who  devour  it  half-cooked,  and  whose  drink  throughout  the 
whole  period  of  the  ceremonies  is  confined  to  the  strongest 
and  coarsest  arrack.  Under  the  influence  of  this  stimulant 
the  women  starting  up,  and  falling  into  a  ring,  each  beating 
a  round  drum,  commence  to  dance,  going  round  and  round  in 
a  circle,  at  first  slowly,  then  by  degrees  faster  and  faster,  till 
they  become  thoroughly  excited.  Shouting  and  bawling  out 
unintelligible  words  or  sentences,  they  constantly  increase  the 
pace  of  their  prance  and  the  din  of  their  voices,  till  the  men 
at  last  becoming  excited  also,  dress  themselves  in  their  war 
feathers  and  accoutrements,  and  brandishing  their  swords,  join 
in  the  drunken  and  demoniacal  scene,  which  continues  to 
increase  in  fury  till  the  wearied-out  frames  of  the  performers 
sink  through  utter  exhaustion,  which  it  often  requires,  so  mad 
is  their  frenzy,  a  whole  circuit  of  the  sun  to  produce.  In  such 
a  scene  the  Timorese  appear  as  pure  savages. 

When  these  orgies  at  last  come  to  a  close,  the  skulls  and 
cheekbones  of  the  slain  herds  are  strewn  over  the  ground 
among  the  stones  heaped  upon  it  at  the  time  of  burial ;  or  in 


IN   TIMOR. 


437 


the  case  of  persons  of  rank  or  importance  the  jaw-bones  and 
horns  are  inserted  into  holes  one  above  the  other  in  a  tall 
pole,  whose  number  indicates  the  eminence  of  him  who  sleeps 
below.  Such  a  memento  stood  within  this  Sauo  homestead 
enclosure  to  mark  the  resting-place  of  the  Date's  grandfather. 
AVhen  a  king  dies  the  chief  officers  of  the  kingdom  are 
summoned  to  pronounce  that  he  is  really  dead.     As  soon  as 


GKAVE  STICK    IN    THE    lIO.MEriTEAU    07    SAUO. 


this  declaration  has  been  made  the  whole  family,  ^\■ho  have 
till  then  preserved  complete  silence,  break  out  into  cries  and 
lamentations.  For  seven  days  no  work  is  permitted  to  be 
done  within  the  limits  of  the  kingdom,  no  betel  or  siri  may  be 
used,  and  the  people  must  cut  their  hair  in  token  of  mourning. 
For  weeks  and  even  months  the  relatives  of  the  defunct  ruler 
continue  to  arrive,  and  as  each  one  must  view  the  corpse  as  it 


438  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

died,  it  has  become  by  then  a  mass  of  putrefaction  emitting  a 
pestilential  odour,  which  to  the  Timorese  gives  no  apparent 
discomfort.  As  during  this  period  whoever  arrives  must  be 
feasted,  every  buffalo,  horse  and  pig  that  the  family  possess 
have  often  to  be  slaughtered,  reducing  them  to  absolute 
poverty.  On  the  conclusion  of  these  death  ceremonies  the 
family  leave  the  house,  but  the  body  remains  there  either  on  a 
bier  or  dej)osited  in  a  large  coffin  and  guarded  by  the  officials 
of  the  kingdom,  till  the  relatives  can  afford  to  provide  the 
burial  feast.  Till  such  time  the  king  is  supposed  to  be  asleep 
and  no  successor  with  reigning  powers  can  be  appointed. 

Like  the  Australians,  the  Timorese  cannot  understand  why 
any  one  should  ever  die  unless  he  be  killed  ;  so  they  attribute 
both  sickness  and  natural  death  to  the  influence  of  some 
malevolent  existence,  which  they  believe  eats  uj)  the  spirit  of 
the  blighted  person  after  death.  As  soon,  therefore,  as  the  sick 
man  has  died,  the  Sicangi  (or  person  in  whom  the  evil  spirit 
had  taken  up  its  residence  and  who  is  considered  to  be  in 
collusion  with  it),  whom  their  fanaticism  easily  discovers,  used 
with  his  whole  family  to  be  seized  (till  it  was  made  a  capital 
crime  by  the  Portuguese  so  to  do),  bound  hand  and  foot,  and 
either  impaled  or  buried  alive,  and  their  goods  confiscated 
for  the  benefit  of  the  accusers  and  the  lord  of  the  soil. 

Their  food  seems  to  consist  chiefly  of  indian-corn  roasted 
ever  the  fire  by  each  individual  when  he  feels  hungry,  and 
eaten  2:rain  bv  o:rain  as  it  becomes  ready.  On  hig-h  occasions, 
when  a  pig  or  a  goat  is  killed,  the  indian-corn  mixed  with 
rice  and  Katjang  (Phaseolus)  beans,  is  stewed  along  with  the 
flesh,  and  the  whole  mess  flavoured  with  the  most  pungent 
capsicums.  Sweet  potatoes  (and  in  some  elevated  districts 
European  potatoes),  Cucurbitaceous  fruits  and  various  herbs 
form  also  a  large  part  of  their  diet.  In  times  of  scarcity  a  species 
of  legume,  called  by  them  JciUu  (Dolichos  Lablab),  common 
over  the  whole  island,  is  also  used  as  food,  but  unless  it  is 
well  cooked  it  is,  if  not  poisonous,  very  deleterious.  They 
cultivate  few  fruits  except  the  banana ;  but  the  jack-fruit 
seems  in  some  places  abundant  and  is  highly  prized,  espe- 
cially its  seeds,  which  when  boiled,  taste  not  unlike  potatoes 
and  much  resemble  those  of  the  seeding  variety  of  the  bread- 
fruit tree  (Artocarpus  incisa).    The  true  bread-fruit  I  did  not 


IN  TIMOR.  439 


myself  observe,  though  it  is  said  to  grow  in  Timor  in  abun- 
dance. 

-4p'?7  3. — From  behind  our  rest-house,  I  got  a  good  view  of 
the  river  below  us,  where  its  tributary,  the  Tahaolat,  descending 
along  steep  gradient,  and  looking  from  my  elevated  station  like 
a  narrow  line  of  black  fluid  winding  through  the  centre  of  its 
wide,  flat  and  stony  channel,  dashes  down  a  noisy  cataract  into 
but  does  not  commingle  for  a  long  way  after  its  union  with 
the  paler  water  of  the  Wai  Matang-Kaimauk,  whose  bed, 
judging  from  the  dwarfed  appearance  of  the  tall  casuarinas 
growing  against  the  high  shingle  banks  in  tiie  fork  of  their 
confluence,  must  be  quite  fifty  feet  lower.  So  broad  is  the 
channel  of  this  river  that  even  the  conjoint  flood — on  the  way 
to  the  sea  at  Mantutu — meanders  like  a  narrow  ribband 
through  it.  The  grandeur  of  these  streams,  if  ever  their  vast 
beds  are  filled  from  bank  to  bank  with  a  roaring  torrent,  must 
be  left  to  the  imagination.  Guided  by  the  Dato,  down  the 
steep  and  broken  slopes  to  the  river  margin,  2000  feet  above 
the  sea,  I  had  a  full  view  of  the  giant  trihedral  blocks  down 
to  their  bases  in  a  side  tributary  of  the  Wai  IMatang- 
Kaimauk,  and  estimated  them  at  not  less  than  lOOO  feet  in 
height.  The  river  itself,  which  looked  so  small  from  above, 
was  found  to  be  wide,  deep,  and  rapid,  demanding  our  utmost 
caution  in  fording  on  account  of  the  number  of  large  boulders 
which  were  being  constantly  rolled  down  by  it.  I  am  told  that 
in  the  rainy  season,  travellers  have  often  to  camp  on  the  bank 
for  weeks  waiting  for  an  opportunity  to  cross  in  safety ;  and 
that  many  a  time  horses  and  men,  who  in  their  impatience 
attempt  to  force  their  way,  are  carried  down  and  crushed  by 
the  rolling  blocks. 

From  the  river  it  was  a  long  weary  climb  of  1500  feet  to  the 
summit  of  the  opposite  ridge,  over  a  rough  shingly  ground,  from 
which  the  soil  has  been  nearly  all  washed  a>vay,  so  that  to 
raise  his  little  crop  of  maize  the  native  here  has  had  to  build 
up  terraces  of  low  walls  in  the  more  sheltered  nooks  to  hold 
the  precious  hoard  of  earth  he  has  laboriously  collected  behind 
them.  On  reaching  the  summit  we  were  overtaken  by  a 
dense  drizzling  mist,  in  which,  amid  the  innumerable  ravinelets 
of  the  descent,  each  of  which  looked  like  the  usual  ditch-like 
track  of  a  road,  we  lost  our  way.     Stumbling  up  against  a 


440  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

native  of  the  district  whom  luckily  we  caught  unawares  before 
he  could  make  off,  we  persuaded  him  with  the  offer  of  a 
gaudy  kerchief  to  guide  us  to  the  Eajah  of  Turskain's.  In  his 
rear  we  slid  and  stumbled  down  on  the  slippery  clay  for  1000 
feet  to  the  JMaukuda,  a  noisy  sparkling  stream  in  a  narrow 
ravine  which  finds  its  way  to  the  south  coast  (showing  that  we 
had  crossed  the  water-shed  of  the  country),  up  which  we 
clambered  over  boulders  and  through  deep  pools  for  nearly  an 
hour.  The  sides  of  the  ravine,  however,  were  densely  covered 
with  vegetation,  and  bright  with  hedychium,  balsams,  and  the 
French  marigold  {Tagetes  patula)  so  common  in  our  gardens 
at  home,  but  which  was  here  growing  wild  far  from  coast 
influence  or  the  highways  of  the  world,  and  was  seen  by  me 
nowhere  else  along  my  route.  It  is  a  widespread  plant, 
hailing  from  Mexico  originally,  but  also  found  in  Africa;  but 
how  did  it  reach  the  interior  of  Timor  ? 

Turning  to  the  right  out  of  the  stream  our  horses  had  to  be 
urged  up  one  of  the  steepest  inclines  we  had  yet  encountered, 
in  trenches  as  deep  as  their  own  height,  and  along  more  pre- 
cipitous and  dangerous  ravines  than  those  we  had  passed.  In 
compensation  for  these  difficulties  the  scenery  was  charmingly 
picturesque,  in  the  glimpses  we  got  of  it  through  the  rolling 
mist-clouds,  and  above  all,  we  had  entered  a  more  fertile 
grass-clad  region  though  without  much  arboreal  vegetation 
beyond  acacias  and  casuarinas.  Every  foot  of  the  way  was 
dotted  with  bright  herbs  in  full  flower,  witli  violets,  white- 
flowered  geraniums  like  our  Herb-Eobert  in  habit,  Galium 
very  like  our  common  Bedstraw,  pink  L^lAatse  resembling  the 
Penny-royal  of  our  English  roadsides,  Oxalis,  and  Polygonum, 
while  among  the  grass  and  in  rocky  nooks  grew  small  terres- 
trial orchids  and  the  most  lovely  silver  and  other  graceful 
ferns ;  and  where  the  soil  was  broken  by  land-slips,  and  in  the 
ravines,  flowering  shrubs  abounded,  so  that  I  mourned  that  I 
had  not  arms  big  enough  to  embrace  specimens  of  all  I  might 
have  gathered.  Though  we  had  been  climbing  up  and  clam- 
bering down — first  down  500  feet  then  up  1700,  down  1000 
only  to  rise  again  the  same  number  of  feet — since  early 
morning  till  past  five  o'clock  in  the  evening,  I  quite  forgot  the 
steepness  of  this  last  ascent  (leading  up  to  our  destination  the 
residence  of  the  Eajah  of  Turskain),  and  my  weariness  of  limb 


IN  TIMOR.  441 


in  the  happiness  of  gathering  these  familiar  forms  of  flowers,  as 
well  as  the  event  of  the  day  to  which  I  had  been  looking  for- 
ward, the  seeing  of  the  state  and  bearing  of  a  native  potentate. 

At  last  at  an  elevation  of  4500  feet  we  fonnd  in  a  pretty 
circular  grassy  plateau  in  the  hollow  of  the  mountain  tops  the 
royal  enclosure.  The  house  of  the  Leorei,  a  small  edifice 
standing  alone,  had  little  to  distinguish  it  from  the  commonest 
Timorese  dwelliug  except  perhaps  the  presence  of  an  armed 
guard  housed  near  it  in  a  little  shed,  near  which  stood  the 
"  guarda,"  erected  for  the  accommodation  of  high  personages 
passing  through  the  kingdom,  and  therefore  assigned  to  us. 
This  was  a  miserable  edifice  raised  on  poles  but  not  floored  except 
where  a  rough  bamboo  platform  was  erected  for  baggage  and 
another  for  sleeping  on.  It  could  not  Jiave  been  less  comfort- 
able or  much  more  filthy;  dogs  and  pigs  had  evidently  made 
it  their  lair,  and  during  our  stay  they  strayed  through  it  at 
all  hours  of  the  day  and  night  while  the  rain  penetrated  the 
roof  everywhere,  and  rushed  through  below  the  house  as  a 
considerable  stream. 

Soon  after  our  arrival  I  sent  my  corporal  to  inform  the 
Eajah  of  my  presence  in  his  "  guarda,"  "  on  the  service  of  the 
Government,"  and  to  request  him  to  como  to  me  and  hear 
the  reason  of  my  visit  to  his  kingdom.  He  sent  back  his 
salutation,  with  the  reply  that  as  it  was  late  he  would  visit  me 
on  the  morrow  and  arrange  for  the  necessary  supplies  of  our 
table  and  for  horses  for  our  further  progress ;  meantime,  he 
begged  to  send  us  six  eggs  and  two  wax  tapers,  hoping  we 
should  make  an  endeavour  to  do  with  these  till  the  morning, 
and  to  say  that  he  had  ordered  a  Cabo  of  the  Keno  to  take  over 
at  once  and  be  responsible  for  the  safety  of  our  baggage  that 
the  Rajah  of  Motael's  men  had  brought.  This  official  having 
received  over  not  only  every  article  of  our  baggage  down  to 
the  most  insignificant  stra])  but  ourselves  also,  placed  a  guard 
to  attend  on  us  and  protect  it.  It  was  very  amusing  to 
listen  to  the  acceptance  on  the  one  side  and  discharge  of 
obligation  on  the  other — three  bundles  of  i)aper,  two  straps, 
two  teapots,  three  guns,  four  boxes,  two  soldiers  of  Dilly,  one 
Englishman,  who  has  two  eyes,  a  nose,  hair  on  his  face,  two 
arms,  all  sr.fe  and  complete  !  Had  I  come  by  any  accident,  or 
lost  any  prominent  feature  of  my  face,  or  if  any  of  my  baggage 


442  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

had  disappeared,  the  kingdom  would  have  been  bound  to 
rephice  it  in  kind,  or  in  value  !  In  this  way  I  never  had  any 
anxiety  about  the  safety  of  my  property. 

The  six  eggs  (the  two  tapers  included)  provided  for  our 
bodily  sustenance  by  the  luijah,  being  anything  but  sufficient 
for  three  men  who  had  travelled  through  sun  and  rain  for 
eleven  hours,  I  sent  a  sharp  message  that  something  more 
substantial  must  be  forthcoming,  and  at  once.  From  a  series  of 
terrible  bowlings  that  reached  our  ears  from  the  royal  guard- 
room, it  was  evident  that  my  message  had  been  passed  on  to 
some  unfortunate  menial  accompanied  by  an  application  to 
quicken  his  search,  which  resulted  in  a  fowl  and  some  other 
comestibles  finally  being  brought. 

On  the  Aih  April  I  was  roused  early  by  a  vigorous  tatoo 
from  the  Rajah's  guard-house.  The  katjeru,  or  royal  drummer, 
is  a  hereditary  official  of  high  and  coveted  rank  in  the 
kingdom,  for  they  hold  that  when  ]\raromak  made  Timor  he 
gave  the  people  a  standard-bearer  to  lead  them  to  war,  and  a 
katjeru  to  walk  beside  him — "  like  man  and  wife." 

As  the  Rajah,  notwithstanding  the  noisy  tatoo  at  his  door, 
seemed  to  be  a  very  late  riser,  I  set  out  for  the  crest  of  the  hill 
above  our  camp  to  take  a  round  of  observations.  To  reach  the 
most  convenient  place  for  my  purpose  I  had  to  pass  tlirough  a 
strong  barricaded  enclosure  in  which  were  several  apparently 
closed  up  and  uninhabited  houses.  It  was  some  minutes 
before  it  struck  me  that  I  was  in  the  presence  of,  to  me  the 
most  interesting  of  their  buildings  and  their  most  sacred 
institution — which  I  had  seen,  but  without  learning  anything 
about,  at  Sauo — the  Uma-LuU,  a  designation  which  I  scarcely 
know  how  to  translate  other  than  by  Pomali  House. 

I  am  extremely  doubtful  whether  it  is  to  be  reckoned  among 
their  really  religious  institutions  or  not.  It  has  connection 
with  the  practice  of  the  Taboo,  but  whether  it  has  been 
introduced  into  this  island  along  with  a  race  that  migrated 
from  the  Pacific,  or  has  arisen  de  novo  among  themselves  I  am 
unable  to  conjecture.  It  is  just  possible  that  on  their  own 
customs  they  may  have  grafted  an  imitation  of  some  of  the 
rites  of  the  Romish  ritual,  which  has  now  more  or  less  been 
known  to  them  for  300  years.  If  a  family  cluster  consists  of 
several  houses,  there  is  invariably  one  among  them  called  the 


7.V   TIMOR.  443 

Uma-Luli ;  and  near  the  residence  of  the  rajah  there  is  always 
one  large  one,  which  is  the  Uma-Luli  of  the  kingdom.  As  a 
rule,  however,  the  tribal  Uma-Luli  is  flanked  by  two  others,  or 
occasionally  by  more,  if  the  kingdom  is  lar^^e.  These  edifices 
almost  invariably  stand  in  a  cleared  space,  surrounded  by  a 
thick  fence,  as  here  within  a  grove  of  trees  on  some  elevated  spot. 
AVithin  this  fence  no  twig  or  branch  may  be  broken  or  cut,  no 
blade  of  grass  plucked,  and  no  stone  overturned  under  the  fear 
of  the  vengeance  of  the  luli  ;  no  tobacco  is  permitted  to  be 
taken  within  the  sacred  boundaries,  and  no  horse  or  buffiilo  may 
stray  within  it.  The  buildings  themselves  are  large,  carefully 
built  and  tended  structures  of  bamboo,  raised  above  the  ground 
on  pillars,  and  possessing  two  doors,  one  at  the  side  and  one  at 
the  end.  The  Luli  house  can  be  at  once  recognised,  were  it 
by  nothing  else  than  by  the  buifalo  crania  with  which  it  is 
decorated  on  the  outside. 

An  ofiicer  who  holds  one  of  the  highest,  and  certainly  the 
most  influential  position  in  the  kingdom,  has  charge  of  the 
buildings,  and  presides  over  the  sacred  rites  which  are  con- 
ducted in  them.  He  is  known  as  the  Vato-Luli,  or  Rai- 
Luli.  In  times  of  peace,  and  on  all  ordinary  occasions,  an  old 
man  or  woman  lives  in  the  building,  as  a  sort  of  care-taker ; 
such  a  person  is  named  the  Luliata.  Sometimes  an  old  man 
and  his  wife  reside  all  day  in  it,  but  they  may  not  both  — 
being  of  opposite  sexes — remain  all  night. 

It  is  not  very  easy  to  obtain  a  good  idea  of  the  interior 
arrangements  of  the  Uma-Luli,  as  it  is  impossible  for  heretics 
to  get  within  it,  or  often  very  near  it.  Even  natives  of  Timor 
who  have  become  nominally  Sirani  (Christian)  are  prohibited 
from  entering  it ;  but  by  sedulously  questioning  those  who 
knew,  I  was  able  to  gather  that  of  the  two  doors  (whose  direc- 
tion does  not  seem  to  be  a  matter  of  importance),  one  is  re- 
served for  the  Dato-Li'M,  or  chief  priest,  and  the  other  for  the 
persons  consulting  the  fates  to  enter.  By  the  Data's  door  no 
one  but  himself  may  enter ;  it  opens  into  a  portion  railed  off 
by  ornamented  wooden  pillars  from  the  larger  portion  of 
the  building,  into  which  the  people  have  entrance.  In  the 
smaller  part  are  preserved  different  articles  of  veneration — the 
cranium  of  a  buffalo,  a  spear,  a  shield,  a  chopper,  a  gun  (almost 
falling  to  pieces,  and  of  an  old,  old  pattern,  my  guide  told  me. 


444  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

"  yet  it  is  more  powerful  than  any  other  gun,  however  new  ") ; 
besides  these  there  is  a  bag  containing  the  vestments  of  the 
priest,  which  are  a  broad  band  of  scarlet  cloth  for  his  head,  a 
circular  breastplate  of  gold,  worn  suspended  on  the  neck ;  two 
gold  discs,  about  15  centimetres  in  diameter,  to  cover  the  ears ; 
a  broad  crown  of  gold,  with  two  long  buffalo-like  horns  of  the 
same  material  projecting  from  it,  and  gold  armlets  and  earrings. 
Within  this  enclosure  there  is,  besides,  the  most  sacred  object 
of  all — the  Vatu-Luli,  or  stone  on  which  the  offerings  are  laid 
to  the  invisible  deity.  Each  of  these  stones  they  believe  to 
have  been  given  to  the  people  of  Timor  for  this  purpose  when 
the  universe  was  made.  In  the  larger  portion  of  the  building 
there  is  a  fire-place,  and  vessels  and  cooking  utensils  sacred  to 
the  use  of  the  Uma-LuU. 

The  different  buildings  are  fitted  up  in  the  same  way,  but 
only  on  high  occasions  is  the  central  one  opened.  It  is  kept 
open  during  the  whole  time  of  war,  and  in  it  quarrels  arising 
between  the  different  districts  of  the  kingdom  are  arranged. 
In  times  of  flood  or  of  drought  or  of  famine  an  offering  is  made 
to  ward  off  this  disaster.  If  a  man  has  an  ordinary  sickness 
in  his  house,  he  does  not  consult  either  of  the  larger  Liili 
houses,  but  offers  a  fowl  or  a  pig  to  the  Lull — at  a  little  railed- 
ofif  portion — in  his  own  house.  If  he  should  lose  several 
members  of  his  family,  or  he  be  oppressed  by  any  other  great 
distress,  he  then  applies  to  the  priest  for  permission  to  speak 
with  the  LuH.  Then,  bringing  rice  with  a  pig  or  a  fowl,  he 
enters  the  Uma-LuU  with  the  Bato,  each  going  in  by  his  o\\n 
door.  When  the  Dato  has  put  on  his  proper  vestments  he 
kills  the  fowl  or  other  animal,  and  having  placed  a  piece  of 
flesh  from  its  heart  and  the  side  of  its  head  on  the  Vatu-Luli, 
or  altar-stone,  he  cooks  the  rest  along  with  the  rice  on  the  fire 
in  the  Luli  house.  After  both  have  partaken  of  this  food,  the 
Dato  converses  with  the  Luli,  and  thereafter  turning  to  the 
applicant  he  gives  him  siri  and  pinang-nut,  with  the  assurance 
that  the  sickness  will  depart  or  his  difficulty  disappear.  Before 
planting  their  Indian  corn  or  paddy  crop,  they  kill  a  pig  or 
fowl,  and  both  on  their  own  Luli  stone  and  on  that  in  the  sacred 
house  common  to  the  district,  they  lay  a  piece  of  its  flesh. 

Their  greatest  ceremonial,  however,  takes  place  on  the  eve 
of  a  war.     I  shall  never  forget  the  graphic  description  given 


IN   TIMOR.  445 


me  by  the  guide  who  was  accompanying  me,  and  who  himself 
in  a  late  war  had  been  an  actor  in  the  scene,  of  the  selecting 
by  Heaven  of  those  who  were  to  sustain  the  honour  of 
their  country  in  the  field.  On  the  eve  of  a  war,  he  told 
me,  messengers  are  sent  to  every  corner  of  the  kingdom 
and  country  to  summon  from  wherever  he  is,  and  from 
whatever  he  is  employed,  every  man  who  owes  alle- 
giance to  their  Rajah.  From  the  TJma-LuU  near  which  we 
stood,  the  hill  sloped  up  in  a  vast  shallow,  natural  amphi- 
theatre, bounded  on  all  sides  by  precipitous  and  inaccessible 
valleys.  "  Here,"  he  said,  "  every  man  of  the  kingdom  assem- 
bled, each  with  a  fowl  in  his  hand  on  which  to  read  his  fate, 
until  the  whole  of  this  hill  was  full,  sitting  close  together  in 
silence,  each  man  dressed  in  his  war  attire,  w  ith  his  gun  on  his 
shoulder,  his  sword  by  his  side  and  his  spear  in  his  hand ;  they 
sat  row  upon  row  from  the  bottom  all  the  way  up  to  the  top 
there,  round  and  round."  As  he  spoke  his  eyes  flashed  up, 
and  I  could  picture  to  myself  the  wild  and  expectant  mien  of 
the  half-savage  crowd.  '•  The  Dato-LuH,"  he  continued,  "  then 
appeared  at  the  door  of  the  great  Lidi  house  in  all  the  awesome 
vestments  of  his  office,  with  the  sacred  spear  and  the  gun  and 
the  shield  beside  him,  and  before  them  all  he  sacrificed  a  bufitalo. 
After  placing  a  piece  of  its  flesh,  along  with  siri  and  pinang  on 
the  Vatu-luli,  or  altar-stone,  he  invoked  the  spirits  of  our  dead 
forefathers,  then  on  Maromak  of  the  heavens  (in  other  districts 
the  deity  is  known  by  the  name  JJruhatu  and  Laraula,  signifving 
sun  and  moon)  and  on  Him  of  the  earth.  Then  in  turn  he  called 
out  every  man  present  singly,  who,  advancing  to  the  high 
priest  each  with  his  fowl  in  his  hand,  gave  it  to  the  Dato-LuJi, 
who  slayed  it  in  presence  of  the  assembled  company.  According 
as  the  animal  dies  with  its  right  foot  or  its  left  foot  elevated, 
and  according  as  the  colour  of  the  siri  juice  which  the  Dato 
expectorates  on  the  brow  and  breast  of  the  man  before  him  is 
bright  scarlet  or  dark,  does  the  Maromak  indicate  whether  the 
man  is  chosen  to  fight  for  his  kingdom  or  destined  to  stay  at 
home  and  guard  the  women.  If  the  fowl  die  with  its  rifi:ht  leo; 
elevated,  and  the  siri  spittle  be  bright  scarlet,  the  omens  are 
in  favour  of  the  consultor,  who  then,  turning  from  the  Dato- 
Lull,  draws  his  sword,  and,  brandishing  it  wildly  in  the  air, 
exclaims — '  I'm  a  Man ;  I'm  a  Brave,'  and  takes  his  place  on 
30 


446  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

the  hillside  apart  along  with  the  chosen.  If  the  left  limb  of  the 
fowl  remain  elevated,  or  the  siri  spittle  on  the  brow  and  breast 
of  the  applicant  appear  of  a  dark  colour  he  stands  rejected, 
and  retires  crest-fallen  to  a  place  in  another  group  on  the  left. 
Those  rejected  on  the  first  occasion  may  re-consult  the  omens 
a  second  time ;  and,  if  the  fates  permit  them  to  go  to  the  war, 
it  is  probable  that  they  may  be  wounded,  and  not  impossible 
that  they  may  be  killed.  If  any  man  who  has  been  rejected, 
however,  dares  to  venture  into  the  fight,  he  will  certainly, 
they  implicitly  believe,  be  killed,  whereas  in  the  case  of  those 
whom  the  Luli  has  chosen,  no  bullet  or  weapon  can  hurt  them. 
AVhen  the  number  of  those  who  are  to  fight  is  complete,  theii 
leader  is  called  out  before  them  by  the  Dato-Luh\  who,  after 
giving  him  siri  and  pinang  out  of  his  own  mouth  to  eat, 
instructs  him  how  to  treat  the  wounded,  and  to  give  the  dying 
their  last  siri  and  pinang,  a  supply  of  which  he  gives  him  from 
that  preserved  in  the  Uma-LidV 

During  war  the  Dato  never  quits  the  Uma-Luli ;  his  food 
is  brought  to  him  or  cooked  inside.  Day  and  night  he  must 
keep  the  fire  burning,  for  should  he  permit  it  to  die,  disaster 
will  happen  to  those  in  the  field  which  will  continue  as  long 
as  the  hearth  is  cold.  He  must  besides  drink  only  hot  water 
during  the  time  the  army  is  absent,  for  every  draught  of  cold 
water  would  damp  the  spirits  of  the  people,  so  that  they  could 
not  prevail.  On  their  return  from  the  war  the  Dato-Jjidi  goes 
out  to  welcome  them  at  the  head  of  all  those  who  remained 
behind — the  women  beating  musical  instruments,  and  shouting 
^' Osivai!  Osivai!"  to  the  men  who  are  returning  laden  with 
heads. 

Their  belief  in  the  presence  of  a  supernatural  Presence 
resident  in  the  LnU-house  is  absolute.  I  was  told,  with  the 
most  perfect  belief  of  my  informant  in  his  own  statements,  that 
one  of  the  Catholic  priests  from  Dilly,  while  on  a  proselytizing 
mission,  having  demanded  that  the  LvJi  house  should  be 
dismantled  and  its  profane  ornaments  cleared  out,  was  instantly 
on  his  setting  foot  within  the  door  to  commit  the  sacrilegious 
act  which  no  one  else  would  dare  to  do,  threatened  by  the 
sacred  spear,  sword  and  gun  in  invisible  hands,  while  the  altar- 
stone  bounded  about  through  the  building  so  menacingly  that 
he  was  glad  to  beat  a  retreat !      When  it  is  necessary  to  erect 


IN   TIMOR.  447 


a  new  Litli  house,  every  male  in  the  kingdom  must  contribute 
a  share  of  the  labour  and  cost.  When  it  is  finished  a  buffalo  is 
killed  to  consecrate  the  building.  When  this  has  been  properly- 
done,  the  vestments,  the  sacred  stone  and  utensils  are  then 
carried  in,  and  a  second  buifalo  is  sacrificed  and  portions  of  its 
flesh  laid  on  the  LuU  stone.  A  great  feast  follows  with  music 
and  dancing,  in  which  the  Bato-Luli  in  his  sacred  attire,  and 
the  rest  of  the  people  in  their  gayest  dresses  and  ornaments 
take  part. 

I  took  advantage  of  my  enforced  stay  here  to  increase  my 
herbarium  with  many  of  the  interesting  plants  I  had  seen  on 
our  way  up  from  the  Maukuda  river,  obtaining  some  very  rare 
species,  such  as  Hypoxis  hygrometrica,  Wollastcnia  asperrima, 
and  an  Ophioglossum  fern. 

In  the  evening  the  Leorei  at  last  arrived  to  pay  his  official 
visit.  I  had  hoped  to  find  the  Eajahs  of  the  interior  hedged 
round  ^^  ith  some  state.  I  was  quite  disappointed,  for  although 
not  without  some  dignity  of  bearing,  there  was  little  to  distin- 
guish him  from  those  about  him  excej^t  that  he  wore  a  ^lalayan 
sarong,  and  that  his  Tdis,  or  native-made  toga-like  robe,  was 
ornamented  and  fringed  v/ith  silk,  an  insignia  of  royalty.  He 
was  not  yet  de  facto  ruler,  for  his  father  was  "  sleeping  "  (the 
long  sleep)  "  in  his  house,"  and  not  yet  buried,  as  there  were 
not  yet  amassed  sufficient  cattle  and  pigs  for  a  royal  sepulture. 
He  spoke  and  read  Portuguese  with  some  fluency,  and  by  the 
questions  he  asked  about  the  objects  of  my  journey,  and  in 
the  quickness  with  which  he  comprehended  my  description  of 
the  working  of  an  aneroid,  a  tliermometer  and  a  prismatic 
compass  that  I  showed  him,  he  exhibited  an  amount  of 
intelligence  that  rather  surprised  me.  Why  the  n:!agnetic 
needle  turned  always  to  the  same  point  puzzled  him  bevond 
measure,  and  I  could  see  that  my  reply,  that  Maromak  made 
it  so,  was  not  altogether  satisfactory  to  him. 

Like  most  of  the  Rajahs,  who  in  their  periodical  visits  to 
Dilly  have  been  brought  into  contact  with,  and  influenced  by 
the  Catholic  priests,  my  royal  friend  was  a  professor  of  their 
faitli,  as  well  as  a  follower  of  the  pagan  rites  of  his  own  people ; 
and  to  see  over  against  the  Lnii  temple,  a  lone  and  uncompre- 
hended  symbol  of  the  Christian  ftiith  in  front  of  a  small, 
neglected  bamboo  edifice  representing  a  chapel  of  its  worship, 


448  A   NATURALIST' S    WANDERINGS 

could  not   but  raise  strange  reflections   in   the   breast   of  a 
European  traveller. 

As  still  another  day  of  waiting  for  the  horses  for  the 
continuance  of  our  journey — to  the  kingdom  of  BibifUfu — had 
to  be  passed  here,  I  was  not  disappointed  at  the  opportunity 
thus  afforded  of  increasing  my  herbarium  along  the  slopes 
of  Rusconna,  whose  summit  commanded  a  view  of  botli  seas 
— the  Tassi-feto  or  female  sea  on  the  north,  and  the  Tassi- 
manni  or  male  sea  (as  the  natives  have  named  them),  to  the 
south — and  of  the  peak  of  Kabalaki,  the  highest  mountain 
of  all  Eastern  Timor.  The  mountains  of  Turskain  were  every- 
where covered  with  a  rich  carpet  of  green  grass,  which  gave 
them  a  most  pleasant  and  fertile  appearance,  and  on  which 
thousands  of  sheep  might  be  pastured  with  great  profit. 


7.V   TIMOR  449 


CHAPTER  III. 

IN   THE   KINGDOM   OF   BIBir'UgU. 

Leave  for  Bibicncu — Bridles — A  trio  of  Braves — War  and  its  attendant 
ceremonies — Rahomali — Luli  ground — Bibicucu — Harvest-fields — Culti- 
vation— ^Take  the  law  into  my  own  hands — Connubial  relations — Water- 
fall— Birds — Herbarium — Disquieting  news — Mou nt  Kabalaki — Move 
forward  to  Saluki — Native  market — Description  of  natives  seen  there — 
Ornaments — Dyes — An  enraged  Timorese — Red-haired  race — Timorese 
a  mixed  race — Up  the  Makulala  River — Gold — Ceremonies  of  gold- 
gathering — Arrive  at  the  Rajah  of  Saluki's. 

Fridaij,  April  Qth. — At  dayliglit  besfan  the  loading  of  the 
horses  and  men ;  but  finding  that  the  herbarium  gathered  at 
Turskain  would  from  its  size  hamper  our  progress  very  much, 
1  had  it  packed  up  and  sent  by  special  messengers  to  Fatunaba 
to  A.  About  seven  o'clock  we  got  under  weigh  for  the  Eajah 
of  Bibi^ufu's  by  a  south-east  course  towards  the  sharp  peak  of 
Tahaolat.  The  horse  I  now  rode  was  furnished  with  a  native 
saddle,  composed  of  long  pads  on  each  side  of  the  spine, 
secured  by  cords  instead  of  bands,  and  with  neat  wooden 
pulleys  in  place  of  buckles.  The  Timorese  in  riding  place 
only  the  great  toe  in  the  stirrup,  consequently  these  were 
merely  little  blocks  of  wood  at  the  end  of  a  cord,  with  a  hole 
for  the  insertion  of  the  digit;  or,  often  more  simply  still,  a 
small  wooden  disk  for  the  support  of  the  first  two  toes,  between 
which  the  stirrup  cord  is  grasped.  The  bridle-bit — a  fearful 
instrument  of  torture  from  the  sharp  spikes  with  which  it  was 
armed — was  of  brass,  of  native  manufacture  and  good  work- 
manship, cast,  as  I  was  told,  in  separate  pieces  in  a  mould  of 
wax,  lined  with  very  fine  clay. 

On  one  of  the  hill-tops  on  our  way  we  passed  three  men  who 
had  come  from  a  neighbouring  hut  to  see  our  cavalcade.  My 
servant,  who  was  a  native  of  the  kingdom  we  were  approach- 


450  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


ing,  gave  and  received  from  the  group  a  hard  stare  ;  but  no 
words  v\ere  exchanged.  When  we  had  gone  a  little  way,  he 
looked  back  at  the  group.  •'  These  are  Braves,"  he  said,  after 
a  little,  with  somewhat  of  admiration,  I  thought,  in  his  tone. 

"  Indeed  !  "  I  said,  "  how  do  you  know  ?  " 

"The  tallest  of  them,"  he  replied,  \Nith  a  coolness  that 
astonished  me,  "  cut  off  my  father's  head  in  their  war  with 
Bibi^ufu." 

"  Do  you  not  feel  any  rancour  towards  him  ?  Don't  yon 
wish  to  have  it  out  with  him  now  ?  " 

"  Oh,  no  !  the  two  kingdoms  are  now  at  peace ;  each  has 
given  back  the  heads  they  took,  long  ago." 

The  custom  of  head-hunting,  as  carried  on  among  the  wild 
tribes  of  Borneo,  is  not  practised  among  the  Timoresfi  except 
during  war,  which  is  begun  after  the  most  explicit  declaration. 

When  a  raid  by  one  tribe  has  taken  place  on  the  fields  or 
herds  of  a  tribe  in  a  neighbouring  kingdom,  a  messenger  is 
sent  with  the  intelligence  to  its  Rajah.  If  the  rulers  of  the 
two  kingdoms  are  united  by  the  ordinary  ties  of  friendship,  or 
by  the  sanctity  of  the  blood-bond,  the  affair  is  settled  after 
long  parleys  and  discussions,  by  the  payment  of  an  agreed-on 
price.  Kingdoms  related  to  the  belligerents  by  ties  of  marriage 
or  sworn  brotherhood  usually  send  a  contingent  to  assist  in 
the  war,  or  a  kingdom  may  hire  men  from  a  neighbouring 
or  friendly  power.  If  any  of  these  are  killed  they  must  be 
redeemed  by  a  large  sum,  so  much  for  the  eyes,  hair,  mouth, 
nose,  and  for  every  limb  and  organ  of  the  body,  much  after  the 
custom  of  reckoning  the  value  of  a  man  in  vogue  in  the  island 
of  Burn  or  among  our  own  early  ancestors.  "  The  freeman's 
life  and  the  freeman's  limb  had  each  on  this  (bloodwite) 
system  its  legal  price.  '  Eye  for  an  eye,'  ran  the  rough  code, 
and  '  life  for  life,'  or  for  each  fair  damages." 

If  no  goodwill  exist  between  the  two  kingdoms,  no  satisfac- 
tion will  be  obtained.  War  is  prepared  for,  and  by  the  sacred 
rites  described  above  the  men  who  are  to  sustain  their  cause  in 
the  field  are  selected.  At  length,  when  the  armies  meet,  a  last 
discussion  of  the  question  is  held  by  a  representative  of  each 
side  who  advances  in  front  of  the  respective  armies.  If  no 
agreement  is  come  to  the  fight  begins.  Being  really  of  a  very 
cowardly  spirit,  they  never  fight  in  the  open  but  from  behind 


IN   TIMOR.  451 


trees  aud  crags.  Hostilities  are  carried  on  mostly  by  the 
oifensive  army  pillaging  and  ravaging  all  they  can  lay  hands 
on,  robbing  every  undefended  dwelling,  ruthlessly  decapitating 
helpless  men,  women,  and  children,  and  even  infants. 

In  most  districts  all  the  warriors  fight  on  foot ;  but  the 
Lamkitos,  who  live  between  Alias  on  the  south  coast  and  the 
great  mountain  of  Kabalaki,  fight  from  horseback  with  their 
legs  tied  under  their  horses'  bellies,  so  that,  in  case  of  their 
being  wounded  or  killed,  they  may  be  carried  back  to  their 
own  village  with  their  heads  on  their  shoulders. 

When  one  of  their  number  has  ftillen,  sorely  wounded  or 
killed,  there  is  in  general  a  grand  stampede  of  all  his  com- 
panions. The  valiant  marksman  rushes  forward,  and,  standing 
over  his  fallen  foe,  calls  out  to  his  friends,  "  Ho !  what  is  the 
name  of  this  man  ?  "  His  friends  call  back,  "  Ho  !  that  is  so 
and  so ;  "  to  which  the  response  is,  "  Know,  then,  that  I  am  so 
and  so,"  and,  lifting  up  his  enemy's  head  by  the  ear  or  the 
hair,  he  decapitates  him  at  a  blow.  He  carries  off  the  head  in 
triumph,  retires  to  his  own  house,  and  sets  about  preparing  and 
preserving  the  head,  by  removing  the  brain  and  drying  the 
flesh  and  skin  before  a  slow  fire.  He  never  washes  his  hands 
till  he  returns  with  the  army  to  its  own  capital,  when  those 
who  come  back  carrying  heads  are  saluted  by  the  women,  who 
along  with  the  Bato  Luli  have  come  out  to  meet  them  with 
music,  with  the  cry  of  Oswai!  Oswai!  ('•'  Braves  !  braves  ! ' ) 

For  every  head  the  fortunate  warrior  brings  back  he 
receives  a  present  from  the  Eajah,  and  a  circular  disk,  or  lua 
of  gold,  which  he  henceforth  continually  wears  round  his  neck 
— a  Timorese  Victoria  Cross.  The  captured  heads  are  carefully 
preserved  by  both  sides  in  the  conflict,  till  such  time  as 
amicable  relations  can  be  established  between  them,  when  a 
general  assembly  of  the  two  kingdoms  is  held  whither  the 
heads  taken  in  the  war  are  brought  also,  and  amid  terrible 
bowlings  and  lamentations  they  are  restored  by  each  side  to 
the  relatives  of  the  deceased.  Each  "Brave,"  in  giving  up 
the  head  he  has  taken,  gives  a  small  gift  to  the  relatives  that 
friendship  between  them  may  be  restored,  which  is  cemented 
by,  as  usual,  a  boisterous  feast,  concluded  by  heavy  drinking, 
and  the  wild  dancing  of  the  Tahklu  already  described.  The 
recovered  heads  are  now  placed  with  the  unburied  members, 


452  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

which  can  then  obtain  sepulture.  Every  head  is  invariably 
forthcoming  at  such  a  peace-making,  otherwise  amicable  rela- 
tions could  scarcely  be  restored,  certainly  not  without  a  very 
heavy  price  for  the  missing  skull. 

The  ceremony  of  blood-brotherhood  alluded  to  above,  or  the 
swearing  of  eternal  friendship,  is  of  an  interesting  nature,  and 
is  celebrated  often  by  fearful  orgies,  especially  when  friendship 
is  being  made  between  families,  or  tribes,  or  kingdoms.  The 
ceremony  is  the  same  in  substance  whether  between  two 
individuals  or  large  companies.  The  contracting  parties  slash 
their  arms,  and  collect  the  blood  into  a  bamboo,  into  which 
luinipa  (coarse  gin)  or  laru  (palm-wine)  is  poured.  Having 
provided  themselves  with  a  small  fig-tree  (halik)  they  adjourn 
to  some  retired  spot,  taking  with  them  the  sword  and  spear  from 
the  Lidi  chamber  of  their  own  liouses  if  between  private  indi- 
viduals, or  from  the  Uma-LuU  of  their  Suku  if  between  large 
companies.  Planting  there  the  fig-tree,  flanked  by  the  sacred 
sword  and  spear,  they  hang  on  it  a  bamboo-receptacle,  into 
which — after  pledging  each  other  in  a  portion  of  the  mixed 
blood  and  gin — the  remainder  is  poured.  Then  each  swears, 
'•  If  I  be  false,  and  be  not  a  true  friend,  may  my  blood  issue  from 
my  mouth,  ears,  nose,  as  it  does  from  this  bamboo  !  "  the  bottom 
of  the  receptacle  being  pricked  at  the  same  moment  to  allow  the 
blood  and  gin  to  escape.  The  tree  remains  and  grows  as  a 
witness  of  their  contract.  It  is  one  of  their  most  sacred  oaths,  and 
almost  never,  I  am  told,  violated  at  least  between  individuals. 

If  a  member  of  a  family  of  a  king  marries  into  that  of 
another,  the  two  kingdoms  often  swear  friendship,  and  when 
the  one  is  at  war  the  other  is  bound  to  send  men  to  aid  him. 
One  brother  coming  to  another  brother's  house  is  in  every 
respect  regarded  as  free,  and  as  much  at  home  as  its  owner. 
Nothing  is  withheld  from  him ;  even  his  friend's  wife  is  not 
denied  him,  and  a  child  born  of  such  an  union  would  be 
recognised  by  the  husband  as  his.  In  speaking  of  the 
Greenland  Esquimaux,  Egede  expressly  states  that  they  were 
reputed  the  best  and  noblest-tempered,  who,  without  any  pain 
or  reluctance,  would  lend  their  friends  their  wives. 

Ascending  by  a  \ery  steep  path,  bordered  with  Mitrosacme, 
hare-bells,  geraniums,  wood-sorrel  and  some  liliaceous  plants, 
we    reached    the   top   of  Rahomali   at   4700   feet,   whence   a 


IN   TIMOR.  453 


magnificent  view  lay  before  us  of  an  immense  tract  of  country 
between  both  seas,  riven  and  ploughed  up  in  the  most  gigantic 
manner,  not  an  acre  of  level  land  being  visible  anywhere  save 
by  the  margin  of  the  seas,  and  in  which  every  isolated  peak 
and  crag  was  capped  by  a  dwelling.  Having  halted  a  short 
time  to  survey  the  scene,  I  observed  that  the  sky  was  becoming 
overcast,  and  gave  orders  to  the  men  to  move  on  briskly  in 
advance,  as  I  feared  it  would  rain.  My  boy  turned  sharply 
and  besought  me,  *'  Oh,  master,  do  not  say  that  word !  "  (for 
rain) ;  "  these  mountains  are  not  good,  and  if  you  say  that 
word  here,  we  shall  certainly  be  overtaken  in  a  storm."  The 
incident  recalled  to  me  a  like  dread  of  certain  mountain-tops 
exhibited  by  the  natives  in  Buru. 

Hence  our  course  lay  almost  due  south  right  over  the  peak 
of  Tahaolat— rising  up  to  6000  feet ;  but  its  impracticable 
crags  necessitated  our  making  a  descent  of  2000  feet  by  a 
spiral  track  round  half  its  girth,  in  the  face  of  an  almost 
perpendicular  slope,  from  which  radiated  many  deep  and  in- 
accessible ravines,  clothed,  I  could  perceive,  with  a  dense  and 
interesting  vegetation  of  Lauriniie,  Ericaceee  and  numerous 
small  epidendric  orchids  and  Lycopods. 

Where  the  spur  of  Tahaolat  commenced  to  rise  towards 
Mount  Ailor — 4200  feet — I  rode  close  past  a  pond  full  of  ducks 
of  the  species  Tadorna  rajah,  whose  very  tameness  and  utter 
disregard  of  us  might  have  told  me,  even  if  I  had  not  been 
carefully  warned,  that  they  were  on  Lull  ground,  where  I  dare 
not  shoot ;  even  the  scarlet  algse  covering  the  surface  of  the 
water,  it  was  sacrilege  to  touch.  A  long  and  gradual  descent 
brought  us  at  last  to  the  Eajah's  of  BibifUfu,  where  we  were 
assigned  a  guarda  on  a  windy  bluff  at  3200  feet  above  the  sea, 
commanding  a  view  of  the  whole  country  along  the  southern 
coast  from  beyond  Cape  Luca  in  the  east  to  far  past  AHas  in 
the  west,  its  low  littoral  grooved  by  broad  blue-black  river-beds 
margined  with  casuarinas.  Within  the  neighbouring  kingdom 
of  ]Manufahi  the  Peak  of  Kabalaki,  with  its  rugged  battle- 
ments and  beetling  crags,  reared  its  majestic  summit  over 
10,000  feet  into  the  air.  The  whole  region  was  hewed  up  into 
narrower  and  more  precipitous  valleys  than  any  I  had  yet 
traversed — features  awesome  and  imposing,  but  with  little  to 
commend  them  to  a  kindly  place  in  the  aftections. 


454  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

I  was  struck  by  observing  that  the  roofs  of  the  houses  about 
me  were  surmounted  by  an  ornament  (see  opposite  page) 
closely  resembling  that  found  on  temples  in  Fiji,  as  shown  in 
Stanford's  '  Australasia,'  which  may  perliaps  be  an  indication 
of  some  relationship  or  communication  in  former  times  with 
the  Polynesian  races.  In  one  of  the  baskets  which  I  obtained 
in  the  Tenimber  Islands,  the  lid,  which  was  hut-shaped,  cul- 
minated in  an  ornament  of  the  same  form. 

The  Rajah  himself  was  absent,  and  we  did  not  receive  a 
particularly  pleasant  welcome  from  the  Rajah  Katuas,  who  was 
acting  as  his  substitute  ;  but,  desiring  to  live  on  the  best  terms 
possible  with  this  kingdom,  where  I  hoped  to  make  a  prolonged 
stay,  I  overlooked  as  much  as  possible  his  conduct.  From 
what  I  had  learned  of  the  district  from  my  boy  while  still  at 
Fatunaba,  my  curiosity  and  interest  were  excited,  not  only  in 
its  flora  and  fauna,  but  in  the  curious  customs  that  prevailed 
among  the  people  of  this  rarely  visited  and  little  known 
region. 

In  travelling  south,  after  crossing  tlie  Kaimauk  river,  a 
considerable  change  is  observable  in  the  flora.  The  Melaleuca 
greatly  diminishes  in  numbers,  while  in  the  ravines  Casuarinas, 
Urostigmas,  and  species  of  Ficus  become  more  abundant ;  and 
Acacias,  aromatic  Lahiatx,  shrubby  Malvacese  and  Melastomacese 
cover  the  more  exposed  slopes,  where  also  clumps  of  tall,  dark 
foliaged  bamboos,  with  graceful  nodding  plumes,  form  quite  a 
feature  in  the  landscape.  Whenever  considerable  patches  of 
trees  have  attained  the  dignity  of  a  wood,  one  may  be  sure  that 
there  the  land  is  Lull — sacred  territory — where,  if  he  is  per- 
mitted to  enter,  the  botanist  may  not  break  or  cut  a  single 
branch.  These  spots — often  the  highest  peaks  of  mountains — 
having  been  lulied  for  generations,  must  be  the  richest  store- 
houses of  all  the  rarest  plants  and  trees  in  their  localities. 

How  aggravating  to  the  spirit  it  was  to  be  prevented  from 
collecting  there  it  is  needless  to  describe. 

My  collecting  was  often  enlivened  by  the  sound  of  happy 
singing  from  the  fields,  which  on  all  sides  were  during  my 
stay  in  the  height  of  the  rice  harvest,  here  as  in  all  other  lands 
a  season  of  mirth  and  rejoicing.  In  the  liarvest-field  every 
one — old  men,  women,  and  children— comes  out  to  help.  The 
older  people  in  the  centre  of  a  long  line,  with  the  youths  on 


-^i. 


H- 


r:' 


i  -^ 


m      R 


--vy:-.d 


IN   TIMOR.  455 


the  one  hand  and  the  maidens  on  the  other,  advance  from  the 
margin  of  the  field,  stripping  off  between  their  fingers  the 
grains  of  corn  into  little  baskets  carried  in  the  hand.  The 
older  men  strike  up  a  song,  to  which  the  youths  and  maidens 
sing  a  chorus,  while  sometimes  the  youths  sing,  and  are  replied 
to  by  the  maidens,  in  more  or  less  amorous  strains.  Behind 
this  line  two  carriers  bear  an  immense  basket  for  the  reception 
of  the  contents  of  the  smaller  ones  in  the  hands  of  the  reapers, 
who  call  out  when  these  are  filled.  When  the  crop  is  all 
gathered  a  great  feast — called  Sallalah — is  given,  at  which 
immense  quantities  of  the  new  and  sweet  rice  are  consumed, 
along  with  pig  or  goat  flesh  and  abundant  libations  of  Icanipa, 
followed  by  music  and  dancing  throughout  the  entire  night. 

In  Bibipufu  rice  ^vas  grown  largely ;  but  the  most  exten- 
sively cultivated  and  consumed  cereal  in  Timor  is  the  Indian 
corn,  which  is  grown  often  on  the  very  steepest  slopes,  where  a 
cool  head  and  a  sure  foot  are  required  to  move  about  safely. 
A  simple  pointed  stake  for  making  holes  to  receive  the  corns, 
and  a  rude  hoe  called  haissualce,  with  which  they  roughly 
scrape  the  ground  after  it  has  been  cleared  by  fire,  are  their 
only  agricultural  implements.  In  the  flat  lands  by  the  coast, 
where  rice  is  grown  in  water-covered  fields,  entailing  in  their 
preparation  mucli  greater  labour,  the  people  of  a  Suku  com- 
bine together  to  construct  their  common  irrigating  channels. 

Before  the  sowing  of  the  fields  a  fowl  or  a  small  pig  is 
sacrificed  in  the  Lidi  chamber  of  the  owner's  house  and  a  rich 
head  of  rice  and  Indian  corn  suspended  as  an  invocation  for  a 
bountiful  harvest.  It  amused  me  to  observe  how  meanly  they 
had  occasionally  tricked  their  invisible  Spirit  by  offering  only 
a  husk  of  maize  from  which  all  the  corns  had  been  carefully 
picked !  In  the  month  Futan  when  the  grain  has  all  been 
gathered,  the  greatest  Lull  feast  of  the  year  takes  place,  at 
which  a  buffiilo  is  offered  by  the  Dato  in  the  great  Lidi  house 
of  the  Suku  as  a  harvest  thanksgiving. 

Only  on  the  return  of  the  Rajah,  three  days  after  my  arrival, 
was  I  able  to  obtain  horses  to  send  back  to  Fatunaba  for  the 
botanical  drying-paper  and  the  trade  goods  which  I  was 
unable  to  bring  with  me.  He  had  been  in  a  distant  part  of  his 
kingdom  near  the  south  coast,  looking  after  the  harvesting  of 
rice-fields  that  he  had  there,  and  had  returned  for  a  day  only 


456  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

to  see  that  I  was  properly  attended.  His  instructions,  how- 
ever, were  neglected  the  moment  he  turned  his  back  and  left 
the  direction  of  affairs  to  his  old  uncle,  who  acted  as  Viceroy. 
The  kingdom  was  by  their  custom  bound  to  supply  me  with 
provisions,  each  family  having  one  day's  rations  to  provide 
and  deliver  at  our  guarda.  As  the  people  lived  so  widely 
scattered,  they  often  managed  to  shirk  their  duty,  leaving  us 
utterly  without  anything  to  eat.  I  would  far  rather  have 
purchased  provisions ;  but  no  one  would  sell  or  desired  to  sell. 
Out  of  their  scant  stores  they  grudgingly  gave  what  they  were 
ordered  to  give,  and  had  they  accepted  any  price  for  it,  it 
would  have  been  claimed  by  the  Rajah. 

On  one  occasion,  after  having  gone  without  a  particle  of 
food  for  a  whole  day,  even  after  appeal  and  threats  to  the 
Viceroy,  I  took  the  law  into  my  own  hands  by  shooting  the 
first  large  fat  pig  I  encountered.  It  was  the  projDerty,  as  it 
luckily  turned  out,  of  the  Rajah  himself.  I  say  ku^kily,  for 
I  would  rather  that  his  herds  were  plundered  than  his  people's, 
and  because  this  simple  act  disclosed  for  me  a  curious 
law  of  their  country.  By  the  fault  of  some  member  of  this 
community  my  act  had  caused  this  loss  to  the  Rajah,  a  wrong 
which  had  to  be  expiated  by  a  fine  levied  on  all  the  Sukus  of 
the  kingdom,  not  on  the  offending  individual  alone. 

In  the  early  days  of  our  own  history,  "  the  price  of  life  or  limb 
was  paid,  not  by  the  wroug-doer  to  the  man  he  wronged,  but  by 
the  family  or  house  of  the  wrong-doer  to  the  family  or  house  of 
the  wronged.  Order  and  law  were  thus  made  to  rest  in  each 
little  group  of  English  people  uj>on  the  blood-bond  which  knit 
its  families  together  ;  every  outrage  was  held  to  have  been  done 
by  all  who  were  linked  by  blood  to  the  doer  of  it ;  every  crime 
to  have  been  done  against  all  who  were  linked  by  blood  to  the 
sufferers  from  it.  From  this  sense  of  the  value  of  the  family 
bond  as  a  means  of  restraining  the  wrong-doer  by  forces  which 
the  tribe  as  a  whole  did  not  possess,  sprang  the  first  rude  forms 
of  English  justice.  Each  kinsman  was  his  kinsman's  keeper, 
bound  to  protect  him  from  wrong-doing,  and  to  suffer  with 
and  pay  for  him  if  wrong  were  done."  * 

This  incident  is  one  which  well  illustrates  how  near  a 
traveller  seeking  for  information  of  an  abstract  kind,  may  be 
*  Green's  '  History  of  the  Englisli  People/  page  3. 


IN  TIMOR.  457 


to  missing  some  of  the  most  characteristic  and  interesting  of 
the  laws  and  customs  of  a  people,  and  how  only  by  a  lucky 
chance  or  mischance  in  the  most  unexpected  way  he  may  light 
on  fundamental  facts  of  their  history. 

I  was  fortunate  enough  to  gain  also  much  information  about 
the  curious  connubial  relations  prevailing  in  this  part  of  the 
island,  which  recall  the  husband-clans  and  wife-clans  existing 
among  some  of  the  iVustralian  tribes. 

To  the  west  of  Bibifupu  lies  the  neighbouring  kingdom  of 
Manufahi,  and  to  the  south-west  that  of  Alias.  The  men  of 
Maniifahi  cannot  imrcliase  wives  from  Bibifupu,  but  the  men 
of  Bibifucu  can  obtain  wives  by  barter  from  Manufahi.  The 
women  of  BibifUfu  can  obtain  husbands  from  Manufahi,  if 
these  men  come  and  live  during  the  lifetime  of  their  wives 
in  the  kingdom  of  their  wives.  No  purchase-iwowey  may  be 
paid,  and  none  may  be  accepted  for  them.  The  son  of  the 
Rajah  of  jManufahi  may  marry  the  daughter  of  the  Eajah  of 
BibifUfu,  but  he  cannot  on  any  condition  obtain  her  by  pur- 
chase, nor  may  she  settle  in  Manufahi ;  he  must  remain  in 
BibifUfu  during  her  lifetime. 

Saluki  and  Bidauk  are  two  districts  of  the  kingdom  of 
BibifUfu.  A  man  of  Saluki  may  marry  a  woman  of  Bidauk, 
and  take  her  back  with  him  to  Saluki ;  but  he  must  purchase 
her,  and  it  is  not  in  his  option  to  remain  in  Bidauk  with  his 
wife's  relatives  instead  of  paying  for  her.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  men  of  Bidauk  can  marry  with  the  women  of  Saluki ;  but 
the  man  must  go  to  Saluki  and  live  in  the  house  of  the  woman, 
and  he  has  not  the  option  of  paying  for  her  at  all.  The 
children  of  the  union  belong  to  her,  and  on  her  death  inherit 
all  her  i)roperty,  ^^hile  the  husband  returns  to  his  own  kino-- 
dom,  leaving  the  children  behind  him,  except  in  the  case  of 
their  being  more  than  two,  v.'hen  he  is  entitled  to  claim  at 
least  one.  This  is  possibly  the  remnants  of  matriarchal 
descent.  These  restrictions,  however,  do  not  hold  \\ith  a 
man  of  Saluki  if,  for  instance,  he  select  a  wife  from  a  kin^-- 
dom  which  is  not  related  in  this  curious  way  to  his  own 
kingdom  ;  also,  as  far  as  I  am  able  to  learn,  Manufahi  men 
may  take  wives  from  Alias — or  Alhis  men  from  oManufahi — 
on  paying  the  ordinary  price  demanded  in  these  kingdoms  for 
a  wife,  without  incurring  any  restriction  as  to  residence.     The 


458  A   NATUlTALIST'S    WANDEBINGS 

Timorese  apply  the  name  Vasumanni  to  the  husband-giving, 
and  Fetosau  to  the  woman-supplying  clan. 

In  Timor  monogamy  is  the  rule ;  concubinage  is  also 
practised ;  but  rarely  otherwise  than  among  the  Eajahs 
and  chiefs.  The  wife  of  the  Eajah — his  concubines  may  be 
whom  he  will — must  be  the  daughter  of  a  royal  house,  and  is 
selected  by  the  people  of  the  kingdom  from  among  the  best- 
looking  daughters  of  some  neighbouring  Eajah.  When  an 
agreement  has  been  come  to  as  to  the  price  of  the  bride 
between  these  people  or  their  representatives  and  the  father  of 
the  girl — always  with  the  consent  of  her  father's  people — the 
suitor-kingdom  sends  a  deputation  to  stay  and  be,  as  it  were, 
a  guard  over  the  prospective  mother  of  their  future  king, 
till  the  price — always  a  large  sum,  often  as  many  as  two 
or  three  hundred  buffaloes,  along  with  herds  of  horses  and 
goats,  of  sheep  and  pigs,  of  gold  in  dust  and  gold  manufac- 
tured, with  piles  of  native  cloth — has  been  paid.  When  the 
money  and  gold  portion  of  it  has  been  sent  to  the  father  of  the 
girl,  the  future  husband  is  invited,  as  a  rule,  to  his  father-in- 
law's,  where,  after  a  great  feast,  at  which  hundreds  of  buffaloes 
are  killed,  the  girl  is  handed  over  to  her  lord  and  master  to  be 
conveyed  to  his  own  kingdom.  A  large  escort  of  her  father's 
people  convey  her  to  her  new  home,  where,  as  long  as  any  part 
of  the  price  is  unpaid,  they  remain  guests,  as  a  daily  reminder 
to  the  Eajah  that  the  balance  is  still  to  pay. 

If  the  Eajah  have  a  son,  he  succeeds  his  father.  If  he  have 
daughters  only,  the  eldest  becomes  Eajah  in  esse,  whose  active 
duties  are  performed  by  a  lieutenant,  and  the  others  may 
become  the  wives  of  neighbouring  Eajahs.  If  no  Eajah  oifers 
for  them,  they  may  not  be  married  to  any  one  not  of  royal 
descent,  with  the  exception,  perhaps,  and  that  very  rarely,  of 
some  of  the  highest  officers  in  the  kingdom. 

The  people  of  the  kingdom  choose  their  queen's  husband. 
Having  fixed  their  choice  on  a  suitable  person  in  some  neigh- 
bouring kingdom,  they  send  a  deputation  to  request  the  per- 
mission of  its  Eajah  and  people  for  one  of  his  sons  to  become 
the  husband  of  their  queen.  If  the  proposal  is  agreeable  to 
them,  the  selected  youth  is  conveyed  to  his  new  kingdom, 
receives  its  queen  as  a  gift,  and  is  endowed  with  the  status 
and  rank  of  a  nominal  Eajah.      He  must  remain  in  his  new 


VIEW    IN    THE    SEKARATA    VALLEY,    BlBIflfU. 


IN   TIMOR.  459 


kingdom  as  long  as  his  wife  is  alive,  and  his  children  belong 
to  the  kingdom  of  his  adoption.  If,  however,  there  are  more 
children  than  two,  a  boy,  or  a  boy  and  a  girl,  belong  to  the 
husband,  and  are  at  liberty  to  return  to,  and  are  in  fact 
claimed  by  his  father's  kingdom,  and  are  the  inheritors  of 
his  property,  while  the  rest  are  heirs  of  her's.  AVlien  the 
queen  dies,  her  consort  returns  to  his  father's  kingdom,  but 
he  can  take  with  him  nothing  from  his  wife's  home ;  every- 
thing there  belongs  to  her  children.  If  he  die  first,  his  body 
is  carried  to  his  own  family  burying-ground ;  but  I  am  not 
sure  by  whom  the  death-and-burial  feasts  are  provided. 

If  the  Eajah  of  Bibi9U5U,  for  instance,  have  no  children, 
the  people  of  his  kingdom  beg  the  services  of  a  son  always  of 
the  Rajah  of  Manufahi,  as  their  Rajah,  for  the  payment  of  a 
certain  sum  to  his  kingdom  as  hire.  His  new  kingdom  then 
purchases  a  wife  for  him,  if  he  be  unmarried.  Shoidd  the 
kingdom  of  Manufahi  lose  all  heirs  to  its  throne,  it  may 
demand  back  again  the  reigning  Rajah  of  BibifUfu.  If  he 
has  children  while  Rajah  of  Bibicucu,  or  afterwards,  they 
belong  to  the  kingdom  which  purchased  for  him  his  wife, 
with  the  reservation  just  mentioned,  of  a  boy  or  a  boy  and  a 
girl  to  become  his  heirs.  If,  however,  the  kingdom  of  Bibi- 
9U9U  has  hought  and  not  hired  merely  the  son  of  the  Rajah  of 
Manufahi,  he  cannot  be  recalled  on  a  vacancy  occurring  in 
his  own  father's  kingdom. 

In  the  sunny  valley  of  Serarata,  near  a  picturesque  water- 
fall, butterflies,  chiefly  of  the  common  ftimilies  of  Pieridee  and 
Lycsenidm,  v.ere  abundant,  and  formed  all  along  the  water's 
edge  quite  a  border  of  bright  colour.  Bird-life  was  far 
scarcer  than  nearer  the  northern  coast,  but  along  the  more 
wooded  flat  lands  by  the  southern  shores,  the  natives  informed 
me  that  they  are  very  plentiful.  A  lively  little  Pipit  (Anthus 
medius),  with  the  perfect  habits  and  call  of  a  Wagtail,  fre- 
quented the  barer  grass  fields  in  flocks,  wliile  among  the 
shrubberies  a  pretty  Cisticola  which  I  first  took  to  bo  a  wren, 
and  a  black  Fantail  Flycatcher  (Rhijndura  rujiventris),  flitted 
about  with  the  restless  habit  of  their  tribe.  A  bright  orange 
Fachjcephala  and  a  species  of  Tit  (Parus  timcrensh),  which  I 
did  not  obtain,  were  not  uncommon.  On  the  trees  the  white- 
headed  Fruit-pigeon  {Ptilopus  cindus)  sat  motionless   during 


460  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

the  heat  of  the  day  in  numbers,  on  well-exposed  branches; 
but  it  was  with  the  most  extreme  difficulty  that  I,  or  my 
sharp-eyed  native  servant,  could  ever  detect  them,  even  in 
trees  where  we  knew  they  were  sitting.  The  peculiar  colora- 
tion of  the  plumage  of  these  birds  in  the  hand  or  in  the 
cabinet  is  so  conspicuous  and  striking  that  it  would  scarcely 
be  believed  that  they  can  occupy  leafless  branches  (if  there  be 
foliage  behind  and  above  them)  with  the  most  perfect  safety 
from  detection.  Neither  the  kakuak  (Philemon),  the  oriole,  nor 
the  cuckoo  {Centropus),  which  were  so  conspicuous  among  the 
trees  and  shrubs  around  Fatunaba,  were  observed  at  Bibifupu. 

My  herbarium,  however,  made  more  rapid  increase  than  any 
of  my  other  collections,  and  every  day  I  gathered  plants  rare 
or  unknown  in  any  European  cabinet,  to  which  perhaps  the 
handsomest  addition  was  a  large  climbing  species  of  Artocarpese, 
with  the  chastest  possible  foliage,  which  coiled  itself  in  regular 
spirals  about  the  bole  of  a  tall  tree.  Its  stem  was  studded 
with  figs  in  all  stages  of  growth  and  of  almost  every  hue,  from 
richest  purple-lake  dotted  and  blotched  with  pure  chinese- 
white.  to  light  red  or  brilliant  scarlet  speckled  with  the 
deepest  orange ;  others  again,  when  gathered  and  laid  in  a 
heap  on  the  ground,  might  have  passed  for  the  eggs  of  some 
of  the  Pheasant  or  Grouse  families. 

On  the  20th  of  April  the  horses  returned  from  Fatunaba, 
bringing  me  the  botanical  drying-paper  of  which  I  was  so 
much  in  need ;  and  in  corners  of  the  baggage,  where  A.  had 
mindfully  thrust  them,  I  found  welcome  additions  to  my  table, 
which  could  not  have  been  spared,  however,  I  knew,  without 
pinching  the  meagre  Fatunaba  larder;  and  among  which  I 
found  a  note  with  the  evil  and  disquieting  tidings  that  our 
house  had  been  attacked  in  the  night  and  plundered  of  nearly 
all  the  stock  of  trade  goods  and  other  valuables  that  it  con- 
tained by  the  treacherous  hill-men,  who  had  taken  advantage 
of  her  defenceless  condition.  She  bravely  said  nothing  of 
being  afraid,  so  I  could  only  hope  that  the  anxious  fear — more 
trying  than  the  danger  of  the  moment — of  further  visits  from 
them  might  not  in  the  oppressive  stillness  of  the  night  in  her 
unprotected  hut,  prey  on  her  nerves  not  then  fully  recovered 
from  the  severe  strain  of  that  short  but  trying  scare  of  a 
Kaleobar  attack  in  Timor-laut. 


IN   TIMOR.  461 


I  retained  the  porters  and  horses  to  convey  me  next  day  to 
Saluki,  on  the  other  side  of  the  valley  of  the  Makalaha,  where 
I  had  arranged  to  go,  not  without  great  disappointment ;  for 
every  day  then  would  be  taking  me  farther  from  Kabalaki 
in  the  Manufahi  kingdom,  which  I  had  wistfully  gazed  at 
so  long,  and  whose  summit  must  support  a  flora  the  most 
interesting  of  all  Eastern  Timor.  My  Hindu  guide,  however, 
refused  the  responsibility  of  conducting  me  thither,  not  only 
because  of  the  Lamkito  robbers  who  skulk  in  the  long  grass 
at  its  base  to  pick  off  and  rob  all  passers  by,  but  also  because 
war  was  on  the  eve  of  breaking  out  between  the  two  king- 
doms, which  would  prevent  any  Bibifugu  man  from  accom- 
panying us. 

In  leaving  Bibi9ucu  I  made  a  detour  from  the  shortest 
way,  attended  by  a  high  official  of  the  kingdom,  to  the  bed 
^of  the  Makalaha,  which  was  reached  by  a  steep  winding 
descent  of  1600  feet,  as  I  was  very  anxious  to  see  the  weekly 
market  of  the  district,  which  was  held  under  the  Casuarina 
trees  there. 

As  soon  as  my  approach  was  observed  a  loud  screaming 
from  the  women  and  children  spread  an  alarm  resulting  in  a 
stampede  of  the  entire  concourse.  The  officer  accompanying 
me  dashed  among  them,  shouting  and  reassuring  them  that  I 
was  only  passing  by,  and  was  in  no  way  going  to  meddle  with 
them.  Meantime  I  had  sat  down  under  the  shade  to  place 
in  paper  the  plants  I  had  gathered  on  the  way  down,  with- 
out lifting  my  eyes  toward  them,  and  as  quite  unconscious 
of  tlieir  presence  there.  By  slow  degrees,  first  one,  then 
another  and  another,  enticed  like  so  many  monkeys  by 
curiosity,  crept  in  about  to  see  the,  to  them,  strange  perform- 
ance, and  as  I  differed  little  from  an  ordinary  human  being 
they  forgot  their  fright,  and  in  a  little  while  the  market  was 
proceeding  in  its  accustomed  way,  through  which  I  then 
strolled  quietly  with  open  and  interested  eyes. 

There  were  between  two  and  three  hundred  people  eougre- 
irated — a  wild  and  savaji^e-like  crowd.  The  men  were  dressed 
in  little  more  than  the  ordinary  T-bandage  or  hahpolihe  of 
native  make,  about  their  loins ;  some,  but  not  all,  of  them 
had  a  kerchief  girt  about  the  head,  while  their  hair  was 
twisted  into  a  knot  on  the  top  or  back  of  the  head,  or  combed 
31 


462 


A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


Out  into  a  crimjied  or  semi-frizzled  mop.  Every  man  wore 
suspended  over  liis  shoulder  a  tais  or  plaid,  which  differed  in 
ornamentation  and  excellence  of  manufacture  according  to  the 
district  in  which  it  had  been  made.  From  his  shoulder-knob 
depended  his  coi,  or  wallet,  the  cords  for  whose  opening  and 
closing  were  elaborately  strung  with  circular  disks  of  shells 
alternating  with  dice-like  beads  of  bone  richly  carved.  In 
this  is  carried  a  store  of  betel-leaves  and  pinang-nut,  with 
tobacco  and  other  chewing  necessaries,  and  the  universal 
bamboo  drinking-cup  in  case  in  his  travels  he  should  meet 


ORXAMEXTED    COMB. 


some  friend  or  acquaintance  who  has  a  supply  of  palm-wine 
{Jaru)  or  of  hanipa,  as  they  name  the  coarse  gin  imported 
by  thousands  of  cases  every  month  into  the  country. 

Every  man  was  armed  with  a  spear  and  a  long  knife,  and 
if  he  had  not  a  long  Tower  flint-lock  over  his  shoulder,  he 
grasped  a  bow  and  a  handful  of  arrows,  light  shafts  made 
of  the  tall  canes  that  grow  everywhere  in  the  island,  tipped 
with  poisoned  bamboo  barbs.  Many  of  them  carried  besides 
a  buffalo-hide  shield  to  ward  off  the  stones  which,  suddenly 
enraged,    they  are    in  the    habit   of  discharging — and   with 


IN  TIMOR.  463 


wonderful  power  and  accuracy — at  each  other.  Most  of  the 
men  had  round  the  waist  ammunition  pouches  of  thick  buffalo- 
hide,  in  form  much  like  European  cartridge-belts,  with  com- 
partments for  the  small  bamboo  cylinders  in  which  they  keep 
gunpowder,  shot,  flints,  balls  of  lead  or  of  ruby  crystals 
gathered  out  of  the  river  beds ;  here  and  there  a  man  from 
the  western  kingdoms  of  the  Portuguese  territory  could  be 
told  by  the  excellence  of  the  construction  of  these  accoutre- 
ments, and  the  elegant  way  in  which  they  were  studded  with 
large  tin-headed  nails,  or  with  rows  of  Dutch  silver  coins, 
and  occasionally  with  an  English  sovereign  among  them 
transfixed  by  a  nail  through  its  centre. 

The  women  wear  very  few  ornaments — a  few  arm-bands  of 
silver  or  horn,  and  occasionally  earrin.c^s,  and,  transfixing  the 
knot  in  which  their  hair  was  gathered  behind,  a  high  semi- 
circular comb,  elaborately  carved  in  beautiful  and  complex 
patterns.  These  are  said  to  be  given  by  the  youths  to  their 
sweethearts,  and  possibly  represent  a  sort  of  engagement 
token.  Their  dress  was  a  simple  tunic,  the  taisfeta,  hung 
from  the  waist  or  from  the  armpits  to  the  knees. 

The  women  did  all  the  selling  and  buying,  while  the  men 
strutted  about  exchanging  with  each  other  drinks  of  palm- 
wine — to  which  they  are  inordinately  given.  Besides  the 
different  food  stuffs,  there  were  exposed  for  sale  on  the  ground, 
piles  of  those  beautiful  cloths,  entirely  spun  and  woven  by 
themselves,  in  which  both  between 
themselves  and  among  the  surround- 
ing islands  a  large  trade  is  done,  and 
cigarette  and  tobacco  holders  ex- 
quisitely woven  out  of  thin  shreds  of 
palm-leaf,  on  which  are  worked  in 
additional  fibres  most  artistic  coloured 
designs  in  yellow,  red,  and  black,  of 
dyes  made  also  by  themselves ;  tlie 
red  out  of  the  nut  of  the  Morinda 
citrifolia,  the  yellow  from  the  epi-  ,_ 
dermis  of  an  epidendric  orchid  called  "  oknamentatiox  on  small 
suaih,  and  the  black  (or  dark  blue)  bamboo. 

from  tlie  indigo.  The  favourite  and  typical  carved  ornamenta- 
tion that  I  observed  on  their  weapons  and  accoutiementsi,  and 


464  A   NATURALIST'S   WANDERINGS 

engraved  on  the  pipe  figured  on  p.  429,  closely  resembles 
that  on  some  of  the  ancient  British  remains  found  at  Taplow 
in  1882.     Another  pattern  is  represented  on  page  463. 

I  was  told  that  rarely  a  month  passed  without  once,  or 
oftener,  the  market  being  suddenly  broken  up  by  a  drunken 
brawl,  as  few  of  the  men  ever  leave  it  sober. 

I  myself  witnessed  the  preliminary  blaze  of  passion  in  a 
fiery  spirit  who,  aggrieved  in  some  May,  had  souglit  his  foe  in 
the  market-place,  whither  he  had  come,  however,  just  too  late 
to  find  him.  It  was  a  sight  to  remember — the  flashing  eyes 
and  passionate  mien  of  that  wild  savage,  the  hasty  and  signifi- 
cant look  at  the  priming  of  his  flint-lock,  as  he  dashed  away  in 
hot  pursuit  (a  wild  cry  being  passed  down  the  valley  to  the 
pursued),  bounding  from  rock  to  rock  in  the  river  bed  like  a 
chamois,  his  coi  and  long  knife  dangling  by  his  sides,  and  his 
tais  flowing  out  behind  him  with  the  fleetness  of  his  pace.  I 
watched  him  till  he  disappeared  behind  a  bend  of  the  river ; 
but  I  never  recall  the  features  of  the  man  without  wondering 
what  was  the  issue  of  that  passionate  chase. 

They  are  a  vindinctive  j^eople,  without  a  vestige  of  pity, 
as  might  be  expected  from  their  having  always  had  the 
dealing  out  of  punishments  for  wrong  done  to  them  by  their 
own  hands.  A  man  I  knew,  whose  neighbour  had  by  accident 
(or  design)  killed  his  pig,  failing  to  obtain  the  restitution  he 
demanded,  seized  his  neighbour's  child  and  ran  off  with  it, 
holding  it  on  his  shoulder  as  a  shield  against  the  father 
should  he  wish  to  fire  on  him,  and  carried  it  to  the  coast, 
where  he  purchased  a  horse  with  the  proceeds  of  its  sale.  I 
do  not  know  certainly,  but  I  am  strongly  of  impression,  from 
what  I  know  of  the  character  of  the  people,  that  the  vendetta 
exists  among  them. 

While  in  the  act  of  turnino:  from  watchins:  this  liuman  hunt 
to  continue  my  journey  my  eye  lighted  on  an  object  that 
riveted  my  interest  more  than  all  else  among  these  savage 
marketers — a  red-haired  youth  (first  one,  then  a  few  others), 
some  with  straight,  some  with  curly  hair,  with  red  eyelashes, 
blue  eyes,  and  the  hair  over  his  body  also  reddish.  I 
found,  on  inquiry,  that  a  little  colony  of  them,  well  known 
for  their  peculiar  colour  of  hair  and  eyes,  lived  at  Aitiiha, 
at  no  great  distance  off.      Thougli  they  lived  in    a    colony 


IN   TIMOR. 


465 


together,  they  were  not  shunned  by  their  neighbours,  who  even 
intermarried  with  them.  The  offspring  of  these  unions  toolc 
sometimes  after  the  one,  sometimes  after  the  other  parent. 

In  looking  eagerly  at  their  faces  T  saw  more  than  their 
features  only  ;  their  presence  there  was  an  excerpt  out  of  a 
long  history.  In  imagination  I  saw  past  them  down  the  dim 
avenues  of  Time — a  far  far  cry—  to  their  early  progenitors, 
and  pictured  their  weary  retreat,  full  of  strange  and  romantic 
vicissitudes  from  a  more  northern  clime  till  forced  oft'  the 
mainland  by  superior  might,  into  exile  in  this  remote  isle, 
where  as  a  surviving  remnant  amid  its  central  heights,  thev 


NATIVES   OF   BIBI9U5U. 


FIG.    2. 


are  living  united  but  not  incorporated  with  the  surrounding 
race  whose  pedigree  has  no  link  in  common  with  their  own. 

What  the  pedigree  of  the  Timorese  is  I  have  not  sufficient 
evidence  for  forming  any  decided  opinion ;  but  that  they  are 
a  race  in  which  many  elements  commingle  seems  certain.  I 
saw  no  one  witli  wliat  I  can  with  perfect  truth  designate 
as  "  black  skin "  such  as  seen  among  the  Aru  islanders. 
Tall,  well-proportioned  men,  with  frizzly  hair,  and  of  a  rich 
yellowish  brown  or  of  a  chocolate  colour,  I  saw  in  abundance, 
as  well  as  short,  stumpy  men,  with  straight  hair  on  the  head 
and  with  no  lack  of  beard  and  moustaches.  Mr.  Earl  *  has 
also  notic(Ml  tlie  "  great  diflc'rences  exhibited  by  the  peoples 
of  the  tabk'land  above  Dilly.  >Some  of  the  natives  have  a 
dull  yellow  colour ;  the  parts  exposed  to  the  sun  are  covered 

*  'The  Native  llaccs  of  the  Indian  Archii;elago,'  1853,  p.  IVO. 


466  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


with  light  brown  patches ;  the  hair  is  straight  and  thin, 
and  its  natural  colour  reddish  or  of  a  dark  cliestnut  brown. 
There  are  also  found  in  Timor  all  intermediate  shades  of  the 
skin,  from  dark  yellow  to  black  or  chocolate  brown,  and  the 
hair  from  red  and  straight  to  the  short  and  woolly  (in  another 
place,  *  short-tufted  ')  hair  of  the  Papuas."  As  in  Timor-laut, 
I  believe  we  have  in  Timor  a  mixture  of  Malay  represented 
perhaps  in  such  ftices  as  Figs.  1  and  2,  Papuan  (Fig.  3,  p. 
466),  and  Polynesian  (Fig.  4,  p.  466)  races.  The  accompany- 
ing figures,  sketched  from  one  kingdom,  will  show  this  mixture 
better  than  volumes  of  description ;  they  are  the  portraits  of 


FIG.  3. 


NATIVES  OF  BIBigUfU. 


people  taken  at  random  from  those  constantly  about  me  in 
Bibicufu.  The  colour  of  skin,  form  of  head,  features  of  face, 
character  and  distribution  of  hair  I  met  Avith  in  every  variety 
and  amount  of  comminglement. 

In  the  eastern  extremity  of  the  island  the  people,  I  am 
told,  resemble  Malays,  and  they  speak  the  Malay  language. 
Among  the  Fatumatubia  Mountains — I  have  it  on  the,  as  I 
believe,  excellent  authority  of  one  of  the  commandants  of  the 
district — lives  a  race  of  dwarfish  people,  speaking  a  "  language  " 
of  their  own.  Their  dwarfishness  consists  not  so  much  in  the 
dimensions  of  their  bodies,  as  in  the  shortness  of  their  limbs 
which  are  thick  and  strong.  They  live  among  the  rocks,  are 
great  robbers  and  much  detested.     The  men  wear  only  the 


7.V   TIMOB.  467 

T-bandage ;  while  the  women  go  absolutely  naked,  and  when 
they  appear  to  trade  with  other  than  their  own  people  they 
ensconce  themselves  in  baskets  up  to  the  arm-pits.  These 
people  may  possibly  be  Negritoes. 

From  the  market-place  our  way  lay  up  a  most  pleasant 
naturally  macadamised  road  in  the  river  bed  by  a  very  gentle 
ascent.  The  clifts,  of  loose  shingly  horizontally-lying  water- 
worn  detritus,  which  banked  it  in  on  both  hands,  rose  perpen- 
dicularly often  to  200  feet,  through  which  in  many  places 
elbows  of  strata  at  right  angles  to  the  direction  of  the  river 
protruded  forming  as  it  were  a  series  of  deep  pockets,  in  the 
debris  of  which  especially  where  there  are  largish  boulders 
among  it,  is  found  the  gold  of  which  this  river  is  said  to 
contain  more  than  any  other  in  East  Timor.  The  gold  is  most 
abundantly  found  in  pockets  beneath  which  strata  dip  as  to 
form  as  it  were  a  floor,  the  fatu-viti,  the  "  mat  {i.e.  bottom) 
rock  "  of  the  native.  The  sources  of  this  river,  to  which  no  one 
may  approach  without  first  sacrificing  a  pig  or  fowl,  are  most 
rigidly  Luli.  Only  in  one  month  of  the  year,  when  the  river 
is  at  its  lowest  ebb,  will  they  dare  to  undertake  any  gold- 
washing,  and  then  only  after  one  of  their  most  solemn  cere- 
monials. 

Before  deciding  on  a  day  to  commence  the  gold-washing, 
some  of  the  children — in  order,  as  I  imagine,  that  no  susi^icion 
may  be  awakened  among  the  river  spirits  that  the  search  is 
intended — are  sent  to  report  whether  the  river  is  sufficiently 
low,  and  in  a  favourable  condition.  On  their  return  the 
people  are  assembled,  and  public  proclamation  made — "  Oh  ! 
ho  !  ho !  four  days  hence  we  go  to  gather  gold."  On  that 
day  the  Bato-luli,  dressed  in  all  the  vestments  of  his  office, 
proceeds  (in  the  district  of  Saluki)  to  the  top  of  the  curious 
Peak  of  Fatunaruk,  where  a  flat  stone  exists  which  is  su])posed 
to  be  the  most  sacred  altar  in  the  kingdom.  Behind  him 
follow  all  the  people — men,  women  and  children.  The  older 
men  seat  themselves  on  the  ground  nearer  to  the  Dato,  the 
women,  children,  and  younger  men  keeping  at  a  respectful 
distance.  The  Dato-JuU,  then  in  front  of  the  great  stone, 
invokes  the  Spirits  of  their  dead,  jMaromak  of  the  heavens,  and 
Him  of  the  earth.  All  then  return  to  their  homes,  where  each 
acting  as  his  own  "  house-priest,"  kills  a  fowl  or  a  small  pig, 


4G8  A    NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

and  offers  on  the  Lull  stone  in  his  own  house,  which  he  then 
carries  to  the  river  to  wash  the  auriferous  sand  over.  It  is 
affirmed  that  every  one  finds  gold  on  that  day — more  or  less, 
all  some.  The  ritual  to  be  followed  by  one  who  is  to  search  for 
the  first  time  differs  somewhat  from  that  observed  by  those  who 
have  searched  before.  On  his  return  from  the  mountain  the 
celebrant  must  enter  the  TJina-lidi,  taking  with  him  a  fowl  or  a 
young  pig,  which,  after  he  has  made  what  appears  to  be  a  sort 
of  confession  to  the  Dato,  is  killed  and  a  piece  of  flesh  from 
its  heart  and  from  its  jaws  is  offered  to  the  Luli,  the  rest 
being  partaken  of  by  both  of  them.  The  novitiate  gold-washor, 
after  receiving  some  sacred  siri  and  pinang,  accompanies  the 
Dato  to  the  river,  where,  after  another  fowl  or  pig  has  been 
killed  he  may  collect  sand  anywhere  at  random,  and  "  of  a 
surety  he  will  find  gold  in  it,  for  Maromak  Avho  alone  gives 
the  gold  will  give  him  fortune." 

After  ascending  the  river  bed  for  three  hours,  we  turned  to 
the  left  up  tlie  Fatunaruk  Peak,  3400  feet,  to  the  chief  of 
Saluki's,  where  I  spent  several  busy  and  successful  days  among 
the  vegetation  of  the  deeper  ravines.  This  was  the  first 
metalliferous  district  I  had  visited,  and  for  the  first  time  the 
proportion  of  the  people  suffering  from  goitre  was  so  large  as 
to  attract  notice  from  the  most  casual  observer. 


IN   TIMOB.  469 


CHAPTER  IV.      . 

SOJOURN   IN   KAILAKUK   AND   SAMORO. 

i  proceed  to  Fatuboi — River  Motaai— Crystalline  rocks — A  ■weird  village — 
Rare  additions  to  my  herbarium — Butterflies — Move  on  to  the  Rajah  of 
Sainoro's — Vesietation  by  the  way — Geological  notes — Penalties  of  theft 
— Samoro  — Visit  Subale  Peak  —  Botanising  under  difficulties  —  Large 
herbarium — Return  to  Samoro  and  leave  for  Manuleo. 

From  Saluki  I  proceeded  with  a  fresh  cavalcade  towards 
Fatuboi,  a  conspicuous  quadruple-crested  mountain  of  remark- 
able configuration,  in  the  Suku  of  Kailakuk,  We  had  to 
commence  with  an  inevitable  descent  of  more  than  lODO  feet, 
to  the  bed  of  the  Motaai,  which,  like  all  the  Timor  rivers 
I  had  made  the  acquaintance  of,  ran  in  a  deep  bed  within 
precipi;.ous  walls,  which  in  some  places  rose  nearly  300  feet 
in  height,  clothed  with  unfortunately  for  me  inaccessible 
vegetation.  After  follov\ing  its  course  for  four  or  five  hours, 
we  turned  off  to  the  right,  up  the  bed  of  a  small  tributary,  in 
which  I  found  blocks  of  pure  white  crystalline  limestone,  a 
kind  of  rock  I  had  not  encountered  before.  Hence  ascend- 
ing a  long  steep  ascent  of  1500  feet  strewed  with  disrupted 
blocks  of  limestone,  we  reached  the  top  of  the  mountain,  and 
by  a  narrow  rocky  stairway  winding  through  a  belt  of  impene- 
trable jungle  of  thorny  shrubs,  were  guided  into  the  most  weird 
spot  conceivable  for  human  habitation,  into  a  small  plateau  on 
the  summit  of  one  of  the  rugged  eminences  of  the  mountain. 
Guarded  on  all  sides  but  one,  by  vertical  w  alls  of  limestone, 
the  plateau  was  dotted  about  with  gigantic  blocks  of  rugged 
and  warted  coral-like  limestone,  against  and  between  which 
duellings  standing  on  piles  on  the  bare  rock,  were  scattered 
about.  To  right  and  left  rose  immense  rough,  almost  in- 
accessible pinnacles  of  the  same  black  witliered  calcareous 
crags,  riven  in  all  dh-eclions  with  cracks,  caverned  into  dark 


470  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


forbidding  caves,  and  traversed  by  chasms  many  feet  in 
width  and  to  the  sight  reaching  down  to  unfathomable  depths. 
In  front  of  one  of  these  caves  an  aged  fig-tree,  adding  its 
awesome  effect,  had  dropped  its  tendrils  and  wound  its  roots 
into  every  crevice  in  weird  and  gruesome  shapes.  The  place 
was  just  such  as  would  overawe  the  timid  and  superstitious 
native  mind,  and  I  was  not  surprised  to  see  that  there  were 
nearly  as  many  Lull  liouses  as  dwellings,  and  that  before  the 
door  of  the  caves  stood  a  Lull  stone  on  which  to  propitiate 
the  spirits  that  haunted  their  gloomy  recesses.  The  whole 
summit  of  the  mountain  looked  as  if  it  had  been  shattered 
to  its  very  foundation  by  some  gigantic  convulsion  of  nature. 
The  natives  told  me  that  earthquakes,  which  were  the  result 
of  Maromak  nodding  and  letting  the  world  slide  off  the 
straight  for  a  moment,  were  frequent  and  severe. 

Here  I  made  some  most  curious,  interesting,  and  very  rare 
additions  to  my  herbarium  ;  the  most  attractive  an  epidendric 
orchid,  and  a  beautiful  species  of  passion-flower  which  overran 
with  its  bright  star-like  blossoms  the  spiny  vegetation  I  have 
mentioned ;  while  the  rarest  was  a  curious  aroid,  Remnsatia 
vivipara  growing  in  soilless  cracks  in  tlie  calcareous  rocks, 
whose  seeds,  as  its  name  implies,  germinate  in  their  capsules 
before  dropping  ;  and  the  most  annoying  a  shrub  w  ith  intensely 
prickly  foliage;  called  by  the  people  there  Silatik — a  plant 
much  dreaded  by  them ;  for  when  my  face  was  stung  badly, 
by  having  come  in  contact  with  its  leaves,  they  exhibited 
great  concern  especially  for  my  eyes,  and  conducted  me  away 
from  it.  I  tried  by  rubbing  several  succulent  leaves  on  the 
affected  part  to  allay  the  severe  smarting,  till  a  little  urchin 
who  was  following  me,  after  shaking  his  head  in  the  most 
significant  way  to  say  that  they  were  no  good,  proceeded  to 
pound  down  some  of  the  calcareous  rock  into  a  fine  powder, 
which  he  brought  to  me  to  rub  into  the  wounds.  The  applica- 
tion was,  if  not  curative,  very  cooling,  but  the  jmin  did  not 
subside  for  a  long  time.  After  I  had  left  the  place  I  learned 
that  it  is  the  juice  from  this  tree  that  is  applied  to  the  tips  of 
their  arrows  as  a  poison.  Among  the  few  butterflies  I  obtained 
I  netted,  with  a  heart  palpitating  with  pleasure,  the  lovely 
Cetliosia  lamarhii,  whose  azure  wings  had  tantalised  me  by  flying 
alonir  the  front  of  the  inaccessible  cliffs  of  the  river  bed  below. 


IN   TIMOB.  471 


The  trees  on  the  perpendicular  faces  of  the  rocks  were 
crowded  with  the  only  mammalian  animal  I  had  yet  seen, 
a  lively  grey  monkey  {Macaeus  cijnomologus),  which  chattered 
and  squeaked  most  lustily  at  my  intrusion. 

With  a  few  extra  porters,  necessitated  by  the  considerable 
additions  made  to  my  herbarium  here,  w^e  started  north-east 
for  the  Rajah  of  Samoro's,  in  whose  territory  stood  the  Peak 
of  Sobale,  whose  summit  I  wished  to  visit.  The  road  thither, 
which  like  all  others  in  this  grooved  and  excavated  island 
never  betook  itself  along  a  plain,  was  a  hot  and  weary  up-and- 
down  trudge  through  fields  thousands  of  acres  in  extent,  of 
tall  grass  and  canes,  sparsely  dotted  Avith  bamboo  clumps, 
with  Casuarinas,  Acacias,  and  Euphorbiaceous  trees,  which 
simply  cumbered  a  vast  extent  of  what  seemed  very  fertile 
black  land.  Starting  at  2500  feet  above  the  sea,  we  meandered 
through  a  shallow  hollow  up  to  2700  feet,  thence  we  followed 
a  long  winding  descent — which,  though  interspersed  witli 
humps  and  hollows,  might  in  Timor  be  called  level — to 
1400  feet  where  we  struck  the  highway  of  the  Fahiletan 
river-bed  which  brought  us  400  feet  lower  to  the  residence 
of  his  Majesty  of  Samoro,  whose  son  received  us.  The  river 
banks  were  wooded  with  Casuarinas,  IMyrtles,  and  Gum-trees 
(which  had  again  become  abundant),  interspersed  with  dense 
and  impenetrable  thickets  of  Bamboo-durie  (Schizostachiuin 
durio),  which  offered  a  splendid  hold  for  the  beautiful  feathery 
Asparagus  racemosus  and  the  tendrils  of  that  grand  Timor 
lily,  the  Gloriosa  superha,  whose  curiously  coloured  corolhi, 
half  scarlet  half  orange  (entirely  changing  after  fecundation 
to  scarlet),  overspread  its  great  clum])s  with  a  fiery  blaze  of 
flowers,  while  that  once  so  rare  and  highly  prized  of  orchids, 
the  Vawla  insignis,  rejoiced  our  way  with  its  fragrance. 

The  strata  cropping  out  in  the  river-bed  were  quite  different 
from  any  I  had  noticed  elsewhere  on  my  journey.  They  were 
l)ale-gray  rough  crystalline  sandstones  in  beds  half  a  foot 
thick,  alternating  with  black  bands  of  about  the  same  thick- 
ness of  what  had  been  once  fine  mud,  whose  lower  surfaces 
exhibited  radiating  annelid-like  fossil  impressions.  These 
stratified  rocks,  which  dipped  into  the  river  at  a  high  angle, 
were  in  many  places  clearly  seen  to  be  entirely  embedded 
after    they    had    begun    to    be    attacked    by    some   erodinj^ 


472 


A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


or  denudini^  agency,  in  the  horizontally  laid-down  black 
shingly  detritus  which  I  have  already  so  often  referred  to, 
plainly  indicating  that  at  some  epoch  not  geologically  very 
remote,  they  had  been  long  submerged,  as  the  whole  of  Eastern 
Timor  seems  to  have  been,  below  an  arm  of  the  sea,  or  pos- 
sibly beneath  an  inland  lake  ;  and  after  some  hundreds  of 
feet  had  accumulated  on  them  they  were  again  subjected  to 


elevation — which  has  gone  on  so  long,  and  may  still  be  pro- 
gressing— that  the  rivers  have  cut  their  way  down  through 
hundreds  of  feet  in  height,  and  cleared  out  ravines  a  thousand 
or  two  of  feet  in  width.  Such  is  the  story  of  the  strange 
vicissitudes  of  Eastern  Timor  revealed  by  the  buried  rocks  in 
the  valley  of  the  Fahiletan. 

At  the  entrance  to  the  Rajah's  compound  I  was  startled  by 
suddenly  coming  on  a  tall  jiole  with  a  fringed  triangle  near 


IN  TIMOR.  473 


its  summit,  the  pole,  as  I  thought  at  first  sight,  impaling  a 
human  body,  and  the  outer  corners  of  the  triangle  transfix- 
ing each  a  human  head.  These  were  happily  only  made-up 
representations  of  what  at  no  far-back  date  would  have  been 
realities.  This  ghastly  sign-post,  called  a  hero,  had  been  erected 
as  a  warning  to  all  thieves  and  offenders  of  the  dire  punish- 
ment that  would  be  mercilessly  meted  out  to  them,  just  as  it 
had  been  (or  would  have  been  but  for  the  intervention  of 
European  law  over-riding  their  own)  to  the  three  whose  cranial 
effigies  were  exposed  on  the  kero,  who  had  been  convicted  of 
stealing  fruit,  as  the  bunch  of  cocoa-  and  pinang-nuts  hung  on 
a  railing  below  them  indicated. 

The  law  of  the  different  kingdoms  is  a  lex  non  scripta,  and  has 
been  handed  down  from  generation  to  generation.  The  Leorei 
is  judge  as  well  as  king,  but  acts  only,  however,  on  the  rare 
occasions  when  a  case  is  brought  before  him  on  complaint,  his 
judgment  being  for  the  litigants  always  a  costly  boon.  Every 
man  or  his  family  exacts  justice  by  his  own  individual  arm  on 
the  person  or  his  family  by  whom  he  has  been  wronged.  If 
the  wrong-doer  has  goods  or  chattels  on  which  a  fine  may  be 
levied,  the  wronged  as  a  rule  exacts  a  fine  in  expiation. 
Homicide  is  revenged  by  death,  but  this  penalty  can  be 
averted  by  the  payment  of  the  equivalent  in  money  or  goods 
demanded  by  the  relatives,  and  the  substitution  of  some  one  of 
the  offender's  family  to  take  the  place  of  the  slain.  A  robber 
taken  in  the  act  used  to  be  executed  on  the  spot — and  is  even 
now  when  the  avenger  is  likely  to  escape  punishment  by  the 
European  authorities,  who  have  rightly  interfered  with  the 
old  savage  administration  of  justice  in  the  rajahships — and  if 
the  theft  consisted  of  a  living  animal  the  head  of  the  animal 
was  struck  off  and  affixed  near  that  of  the  robber  on  a  stake. 

Every  crime,  however  small,  could  be  avenged  by  death, 
but  if  the  offender  were  sufficiently  rich,  they  could  all  be 
expiated  by  a  fine  except  two :  adultery  with  any  of  the 
rajah's  family,  and  the  being  a  Sivangi  or  sorcerer,  for  which 
the  punishment — or  perhaps  it  ought  to  be  called  cure — was 
impalement  with  all  liis  family,  and  confiscation  of  their  goods 
for  the  benefit  of  the  accuser  and  of  the  lord  of  the  soil. 

Law  and  justice  are  to  be  seen  in  Timor,  at  the  present  day, 
emerging  from  the  rudimentary  stage.     Hitherto  each  native 


474  A   NATUBALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


has  exercised  "  the  right  which  formed  the  main  check  upon 
lawless  outrage,  the  right  of  private  Avar.  Justice  had  to 
spring  from  each  man's  personal  action,  and  every  freeman  was 
liis  own  avenger.  The  bloodwite,  or  compensation  in  money 
for  personal  wrong,  was  the  first  effort  of  the  tribe  as  a  whole 
to  regulate  private  revenge."  * 

As  the  taking  of  life  is  strictly  forbidden  by  the  Portuguese, 
and  punished  with  the  utmost  severity  when  proof  can  be 
obtained,  causes  before  the  Eajah  are  becoming  more  frequent 
in  order  to  obtain  the  fines  which  the  wronged  claims  from  the 
wrong-doer  for  his  offence,  which  in  former  times,  if  not  paid, 
would  have  been  atoned  for  by  his  head. 

After  a  day  or  two's  botanising  at  Samoro,  accompanied  by 
the  king's  son,  I  started  on  the  oOth  of  April  on  a  sure-footed 
little  pony  I  had  purchased  from  the  l\ajah  of  Bibifugu,  for  the 
top  of  Mount  Sobale,  travelling  in  a  direction  N.  21°  W.,  up  a 
more  gradual  slope  than  usual  to  2600  feet,  whence  we  looked 
down  into  the  valley  of  the  Buarahu.  Here  some  of  the 
wildest  and  grandest  scenery  of  our  whole  journey  met  my 
view.  It  is  impossible  to  describe  the  castellated  crags  and 
lines  of  perpendicular  and  inaccessible  cliffs  that  reared  their 
giant  masses  sheer  above  the  landscape,  or  the  irregular 
blocks  that  thrust  themselves  through  the  grassy  slopes,  as  if 
they  had  been  dropped  about  without  any  relation  to  the 
geology  of  the  region.  Meantime  they  remain  in  undisturbed 
keeping  for  the  tourist  of  the  future  in  quest  of  striking  and 
impressive  scenery. 

Turning  to  the  left,  we  followed  a  path  on  another  of  these 
inevitable  razor-edge  ridges,  only  the  width  of  the  path  broad, 
up  which  our  ponies  carried  us  with  scarcely  a  rest  to  an 
elevation  of  4000  feet  above  the  sea — a  brave  feat  of  climbing 
which  well  earned  for  them  the  hour's  relaxation  at  Manulu, 
where  we  rested  before  setting  our  faces  towards  the  steeper 
shoulder  of  Sobale.  This  farther  ride  took  us  round  the  head 
of  the  valley  of  the  Buarahu  by  an  eerie  and  dangerous  path, 
dilapidated  and  often  landslipped,  in  which  at  many  points  a 
single  stumble  of  our  ponies  would  have  left  nothing  between 
us  and  a  fall  of  2000  feet  into  the  river  bed.  At  5000  feet, 
where  we  reached  a  safe  road  on  the  mass  of  the  mountain 
*  Green's  '  History  of  tlie  Euglisb.  People.' 


IN  TIMOR.  475 

itself,  I  could  freely  turn  my  attention  to  the  thousands  of 
violets,  geraniums  and  labiates  that  decked  the  ground,  and 
the  profusion  of  ferns  that  loaded  the  banks  and  the  trees, 
among  which  I  observed,  in  the  forest  that  covered  the  upper 
2000  feet  of  the  peak,  abundance  of  Pandans,  Oasuarinas,  and 
other  Pines.  To  my  infinite  disgust  and  disappointment,  I 
overheard  the  Kajah's  son  tell  my  interpreter  to  warn  me 
that  all  the  forest  was  rigidly  Luli,  boding  ill  for  my  next 
day's  prospects.  By  dropping  behind,  however,  out  of  sight, 
I  that  night  made  sure  of  all  that  I  could  possibly  carry, 
and  followed  quietly  through  little  belts  of  vegetation  of  the 
greatest  interest  to  Punuruau,  the  little  house-cluster  on  a 
lower  spur  of  the  mountain  where  we  had  arranged  to  camp. 

I  retired  to  rest  with  a  well-laid  plan  of  rising  early  and 
slipping  off  to  the  mountain  without  being  seen  or  followed. 
There  was  little  inducement  to  lie  late,  for  my  couch  was  un- 
comfortable and  the  night-wind  cold  ;  I  was  therefore  easily 
ready  for  the  field  before  daylight.  After  a  hasty  breakfast  I 
stepped  quietly  away  for  Sobale  attended  by  my  Hindoo  cor- 
poral, and  thought  I  had  succeeded  in  escaping  unperceived, 
especially  as  a  dense  mist  enshrouded  the  mountain.  Alas ! 
we  had  not  gone  far  when  I  discovered  that  quite  a  little 
crowd,  following  the  Dato  of  the  place,  was  on  our  trail. 
There  was  no  time  to  be  lost,  so  I  hewed  away  right  and  left 
on  the  slopes  below  the  summit,  building  up  a  high  pile  on 
the  ground  of  the  most  delightful  specimens. 

The  unwonted  operations  of  a  wliite  man,  the  first  who  had 
probably  ever  ascended  their  mountain,  kept  them  for  a  while 
at  a  little  distance  watching  my  operations  in  silence.  My 
hopes  began  to  rise  that  perhaps  I  was  mistaken  in  what  I  had 
overheard  the  day  before.  It  was  a  vain  delusion;  for  their 
low  murmured  reproaches  at  last  found  distinct  utterance  in 
complaint  and  remonstrance.  The  corporal  was  besought  to 
restrain  me,  and  save  myself  as  well  as  them  from  the  retribu- 
tion of  sickness  and  death  that  certainly  Avould  follow  on  the 
violation  of  the  sacred  precincts.  I  told  my  l>illy  interpreter 
to  express  my  deep  regret,  and  that  I  would  at  once  desist ; 
but  I  gave  him  to  understand  that  he  was  not  to  bring  nie  any 
more  of  their  mcssapres  nor  heed  me  in  whatever  I  did.  Movinir 
off  to  some  distance  higher   up,  I  recommenced  on   a   new 


476  A   NATURALIST'S   WANDERINGS 


clump,  which  perhaps  might  not  bo  Luli,  and,  like  a  drowning 
man  catching  at  his  last  opportunity,  I  gathered  with  a  will, 
unhindered  for  a  long  time ;  and  it  was  not  till  I  had  another 
great  pile  heaped  up  on  the  ground  that  their  excitement  and 
superstitious  fears  became  too  marked  to  be  longer  disregarded. 
Luckily,  the  thick  mist  which  had  been  resting  on  the  moun- 
tain-tops all  the  morning  came  down  in  a  heavy  shower  of  rain, 
and  gave  me  a  good  excuse  to  return  to  quarters,  with  my 
trophies  a  five-men's  load,  without  appearing  to  have  recog- 
nised that  I  had  been  offending.  It  was  useless  to  attempt  to 
force  an  ascent  to  the  top  ;  there  would  have  been  an  outbreak, 
for  the  crest  of  the  mountain  was  evidently  one  of  their  most 
sacred  spots.     What  I  had  already  done  excited  them  greatly. 

The  rain  that  fell  cleared  off  with  it  the  mist,  and  revealed 
from  our  hio-h  vantage-ground  a  magnificent  view  of  the 
country,  both  to  the  south  and  to  the  north — especially  to  the 
north,  as  far  as  the  islands  of  Kambing,  ^Yetter  and  Allor, — 
which  was  of  itself  worth  the  long  climb  from  Samoro's  guarda. 

The  careful  arranging  and  packing  of  each  species  in 
sejDarate  bundles  of  cool  banana-leaves,  convenient  for  the 
seven  or  eight  porters  to  transport,  took  a  long  time,  so  that  it 
was  late  in  the  afternoon  when  we  mounted  for  our  return 
journey.  If  our  ascent  in  broad  daylight  round  the  face  of  the 
Buarahu  valley  was  eerie,  it  was  foolhardy  when,  by  the  time 
we  retraced  our  steps,  it  was  so  dark  that  we  could  not  see  a 
single  foot  of  the  Avay.  I  throw  my  horse's  roins  on  its  neck 
and  trusted  to  my  general  good-fortune ;  and  it  was  really 
with  no  affected  thankfulness  that  I  embraced  the  neck  of  my 
sure-footed  black  steed,  when  I  leajoed  down  safely  on  the 
little  flat  plateau  of  Manulu  homestead.  Here  after  a  deal  of 
boisterous  shouting  to  the  inhabitants  to  awake — they  seemed 
to  sleep  with  the  soundness  of  the  dead— on  the  part  of  the 
Rajah's  son,  in  whose  harangue  the  most  intelligible  word  to 
me  was  the  vigorous  use  of  Biabo,  an  old  man  the  only  male 
in  the  place,  made  his  appearance.  Finding  the  quality  of 
his  guests,  he  was  at  once  all  alacrity  as  far  as  it  was  jiossible 
for  a  Timorese  to  be,  and  proceeded  to  rouse  the  womankind  to 
prejDare  for  us  something  to  eat,  and  a  place  to  pass  the  night 
in.  A  kid  and  some  Indian  corn  supplied  the  first,  and  for 
sleeping-quarters  we  were  actually  installed  in  a  Luli  hut, 


IN   TIMOR.  ^11 


from  which,  however,  the  sacred  weapons  were  most  carefully 
removed  and  at  the  owner's  earnest  request  all  our  tobacco 
was  excluded.  Notwithstanding  my  sore  disappointment  that 
I  had  not  set  foot  on  the  highest  peak  of  Sobale,  I  slept  with 
my  head  on  my  saddle  the  sleep  of  the  contented,  for  I  had 
gathered  rare  plants  enough  to  delight  any  botanist's  heart. 

At  five  o'clock  in  the  evening  of  the  next  day  I  reached  our 
old  quarters,  but  it  was  the  early  morning  hours  before  all  the 
plants  were,  under  torch-  and  lamp-light,  safely  put  away  in 
botanical  paper  and  placed  over  the  fire  of  the  drying-house, 
in  attending  to  which  and  turning  the  bundles  several  men 
were  employed  all  through  the  night.  Before  eleven  o'clock 
in  the  forenoon  they  were  dry  enough  to  carry  safely  to 
Manuleo,  my  next  station,  where  they  would  be  again  placed 
over  the  camp  fire. 

Retracing  our  steps,  as  if  to  Sobale,  we  descended  to  the 
right  into  and  across  the  Buarahu  river,  ascending  to  Manuleo 
— 4000  feet  above  the  sea — through  a  rich  grassy  landscape 
in  which  thousands  of  sheep  ought  to  have  been  pasturing, 
were  a  shepherd's  not  too  peaceful  a  calling  to  be  attracted  to 
a  region  where  keros  might  be  a  possible  feature  of  their 
fields.  Such  a  warning  pole  raised  its  ghastly  arms  against 
the  sky  before  us.  It  was  surmounted  this  time  with  the 
veritable  head  of  a  thief  cau2:ht  in  the  act  of  abductinof  a 
horse,  whose  skull  seemed  to  mock  with  its  grinning  line 
of  teeth,  its  abductor's,  to  which  it  was  joined  by  the  halter 
which  in  former  time  encircled  its  neck.  It  does  seem  a  sin- 
gular custom  for  the  owner  to  sacrifice  his  stolen  horse  the 
moment  it  is  recovered,  to  add  to  his  retribution  of  the  thief. 
A  horse  once  stolen  is  gone  for  good,  it  would  seem. 
32 


478  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


CHAPTER  y. 

RETURN   TO   EUROPE. 

Bad  news  from  Dilly — Start  thither — Camp  in  the  opeia — Bees — Laclo  river — 
Fajah's  of  Laicor — The  Queen  of  Laclo — A  hot  ride — Geological  note — 
Matu — Metinaru — Salt  marshes — A  long  night-ride — Return  to  Dilly 
Palace — Extract  from  A.'s  jonrnal — Return  to  Fatnnaba — Fevers — Decide 
to  return  to  Europe — Surprised  by  the  arrival  of  steamer — Regretful 
de]mrtui'e  from  Fatunaba — Revisit  Banda  and  Amboina — Menado — :A 
lucky  accident — Batavia — Krakatoa — Home. 

Next  morning,  just  as  we  had  set  out,  we  were  hailed  from  a 
neighbouring  height  by  a  man  whom  I  made  out  to  be  in 
military  uniform.  On  coming  up,  he  informed  me  that  he  had 
been  trying  to  overtake  us  for  many  days,  and  delivered  to  me 
letters  from  the  Government  Secretary  (Senhor  Bento  da 
Franpa)  to  say  that  Mrs.  Forbes  was  very  ill,  and  urging  my 
immediate  return  to  the  Palace  whither  she  had  been  con- 
veyed from  Fatunaba.  As  the  route  I  was  following  was  the 
nearest,  I  could  gain  time  only  by  making  forced  marches. 
Descending  by  an  undulating  route  to  the  Vebirah  river,  we 
reached  the  first  level  ground  traversed  in  our  journey — a 
plateau  clothed  with  gum-trees  parallel  to  and  sloping  gently 
with  the  course  of  the  river,  and  about  one  hundred  feet  above  its 
channel.  In  being  entirely  composed  of  a  perfectly  horizontal 
mass  of  sand  and  small  pebbles,  embedding  strata  of  crystalline 
sandstone  which  protruded  through  it  at  a  high  angle,  its 
geological  features  were  identical  with  what  I  have  described 
as  seen  in  the  Samoro  and  other  rivers  I  had  crossed. 

A  little  before  sunset,  after  a  march  of  ten  hours  broken  by 
a  halt  of  only  thirty  minutes,  we  camped  on  a  grassy  spot  on 
the  bank,  in  little  extemporised  grass  huts.  During  the  brief 
twilight  after  the  sun  had  disappeared,  the  air  for  some  twenty 
minutes  was  suddenly  filled  with  the  hum  of  bees  {Ajns  dorsata), 
as  if  a  swarm  had  alighted  among  the  flowers  of  the  Gum= 


IN  TIMOB.  479 


trees.  Just  before  daybreak  while  it  is  still  dusk,  the  morn- 
ing air  is  in  a  similar  manner  inundated  with  their  noisy  hum. 
This  singular  habit  of  these  bees,  in  feeding  in  the  sunless 
hours  of  the  morning  and  evening,  I  was  totally  unaware 
of  till  I  came  to  live  at  Fatunaba,  where  close  to  our  door 
a  grove  of  these  trees  grew.  In  the  evenings  the  Melaleuca 
certainly  becomes  more  fragrant  than  it  is  at  midday ;  but  I 
could  not  ascertain,  what  would  be  very  interesting  to  know,  if 
its  flowers  exude  their  nectar,  or  shed  their  pollen  more  freely 
late  in  the  evening  and  early  in  the  morning. 

After  a  comfortable  enough  night,  which  favoured  us  by  not 
raining,  we  resumed  our  march  before  dawn.  I  was  anxious 
to  start  sooner,  but  my  carriers  refused  to  travel  in  the  night 
till  "  the  three  rajahs  in  pursuit  of  the  seven  maidens  "  had 
set,  and  Eai-naromak  (Venus)  had  risen  some  twenty  degrees 
above  the  horizon.  Following  the  Yebirak  we  reached  the  bed 
of  the  Sumasse,  a  river  many  hundred  yards  broad,  running  be- 
tween vertical  walls  of  shingly  detritus  some  two  hundred  feet 
high.  Its  channel  gradually  widened  out  into  a  broad  shingly 
expanse  full  of  Tamarind  trees,  Acacias,  Palms,  and  Cactus, 
till  it  finally  merged  in  that  of  tlie  river  Laclo  (which  I  had 
crossed  far  up  at  Sauo  on  the  outward  journey),  over  whose 
broad  tree-dotted  estuarine  plain,  their  united  streams  having 
outrun  their  high  shingly  barriers,  distributed  their  water  in 
rivulets,  which  near  the  headland  of  lUimanu  debouched  into 
the  sea  at  no  great  distance  below  where  we  turned  our  faces 
back  westward  to  ascend  again  the  valley  of  the  Laclo, 

A  little  distance  up  the  river's  loft  bank  we  came  to  the  Rajah 
of  Laicor's,  whose  people  were  housed  in  the  most  miserable 
dwellings  we  had  seen — in  low  huts  on  the  ground  of  a  mere 
thatched  stockade  of  jialm-lcaf  stems,  with  a  platform  or  two 
against  the  walls  within  to  sleep  on.  The  Rajah,  an  opium- 
besotted  individual,  refused  to  help  me  with  a  change  of 
horses  and  men,  but  I  compelled  him  much  against  his  will, 
to  supply  our  whole  company  witli  tlio  breakfast — of  pig-flesh, 
rice,  Indian  com,  and  fresh-drawn  palm-wine — which  we  were  so 
much  in  need  of,  it  being  then  nearly  ten  o'clock,  and  none  of 
us  had  eaten  since  the  previous  evening.  The  headquarters  of 
the  Rajah  of  Laclo  were  fortunately  quite  near  on  the  other 
side  of  the  river,  and  thither  we  proceeded,  and  for  the  first 


480  A  NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

time  found  some  signs  of  state  and  of  a  more  advanced  civili- 
sation. I  found  liere  a  large  Catholic  church,  which  on  all 
religious  days,  I  was  told,  was  very  well  attended.  The  entire 
population  of  the  kingdom  professed  Christianity  ;  and  the 
outward  indications  of  general  advancement  over  their  neigh- 
bours was  apparent ;  but  I  cannot  say  that  in  individual  cha- 
racteristics I  observed  much  improvement.  The  missionaries 
of  the  Eoman  Catholic,  perhaps  more  than  those  of  any  other, 
Church  deserve  the  highest  praise  for  their  great  self-abnega- 
tion and  for  their  persistence  in  seeking  out  the  most  dis- 
couraging spots  of  the  globe,  where  their  simple  life  and 
fraternal  interest  in  the  concerns  of  the  native,  have  exercised 
a  powerful  civilising  effect. 

The  present  ruler  being  a  female,  all  business  was  trans- 
acted on  her  behalf  at  the  palace-guarda,  a  strong,  neat, 
wooden  building  near  the  royal  enclosure,  in  which  a  high 
official  was  always  in  attendance  in  command  of  an  armed 
guard  to  keep  watch  over  the  regalia  and  treasure  stored  there, 
as  well  as  over  the  prisoners  confined  in  an  adjoining  build- 
ins:.  These  miserable  creatures,  however,  had  little  chance 
of  escaping  from  the  rough  hurdles  on  which  they  were  con- 
demned to  lie,  with  their  feet  fast  in  the  stocks,  and  their 
necks  through  a  hole  in  a  great  log  of  wood  too  heavy  to  be 
easily  moved.  Many  of  them  had  several  months  of  their 
punishment  still  to  work  oif,  but  for  what  crimes  they  w^ere 
suffering  I  could  not  discover. 

On  my  arrival.  I  immediately  sent  my  letters  to  "Her 
Majesty,"  requesting  to  be  furnished  at  once  with  fresh  horses 
and  a  guide,  to  continue  my  journey  to  Dilly,  which  she 
courteously  promised  should  be  ready  for  me  at  daybreak.  It 
would  have  been  too  literal  an  interpretation  of  her  promise 
to  have  expected  to  get  away  at  that  hour.  At  ten  o'clock,' 
however,  the  horse  and  guide  arrived,  and  I  started  at  once, 
leaving  my  impedimenta  to  follow  behind,  in  charge  as  usual 
of  an  official  of  her  kingdom  and  of  my  faithful  and  intel- 
ligent companions,  the  Hindu  officer  and  corporal,  without 
whom  as  representing  the  Government,  my  journey  into  the 
interior  would  have  been  an  absolute  impossibility. 

The  broad  channel,  first  of  the  Laclo  river  and  then  of  its 
tributary  the  Liguani,  formed  a  magnificent  highway,  along 


IN   TIMOR.  481 

which  I  passed  westward  at  a  steady  pace,  under  a  thermometer 
marking  110^  in  the  sun  and  92^  in  the  shade,  between  low 
undulating  hills  clothed  with  a  shrubbery  of  Zizyphus  Jn- 
juha,  and  entirely  composed  of  horizontal  beds  of  shinaly 
detritus,  till  at  four  o'clock  I  struck  oif  to  the  right  up  an 
abrupt  rise  of  1500  feet  by  a  path  studded  with  crystalline 
calcareous  rocks  and  boulders  with  a  flinty  clink,  rounded 
by  attrition  and  perforated  with  holes  and  crevices  like  coral 
blocks,  bored  by  mollusca  and  sponges,  which  had  been  raised 
up  out  of  the  sea.  Strange  to  say,  on  the  descent  of  the 
northern  slope,  not  a  single  calcareous  block  or  stone  was  to 
be  seen  anywhere. 

As  we  commenced  this  descent,  which  was  quite  steep  and 
precipitous,  in  the  fair  way  of  the  path  we  came  on  a  little 
mound  which  they  called  Matu,  round  both  sides  of  which  the 
road  diverged.  Each  native  with  me  gathered  some  leaves  or 
a  twig  from  a  tree  and  laid  it  on  the  mound,  "to  ensure  a 
safe  descent."  On  the  trees  near  by  were  hung  up  various 
articles — cigarettes,  cois,  little  cigarette  cases,  and  leaves  in 
which  rice  had  been  carried,  and  stumps  of  Indian  corn  heads. 
I  have  recorded  above  almost  the  same  custom  in  Sumatra, 
where,  on  a  large  block  of  stone  by  the  side  of  a  forest  path 
something  was  offered  by  every  passer-by  for  "  luck."  A 
parallel  *  exists  at  this  day  in  Dauphine,  where  every  passer- 
by throws  into  a  certain  chasm  a  little  stone  as  an  offering 
to  the  mountain  spirit ;  and  I  believe  the  custom  is  not 
unknown  in  our  own  country. 

Reaching  Metinaru  long  after  sunset  I  halted  to  rest 
my  horse,  for  the  first  time  since  starting.  Resuming  the 
march  after  two  hours,  I  puslied  on  westward  along  the  sea- 
shore, through  a  long  stretch  of  salt-marshes,  which  in  the 
starlight  looked  like  snow-fields.  Near  Hera  the  flat  sliore- 
lands  are  barred  by  the  spurs  of  the  hills  which  run  out  into 
the  sea  there  to  form  that  high  headland ;  and,  looking  back  on 
that  dark  night's  ride,  it  seems  marvellous  how  we  surmounte<l 
without  accident  their  rocky  spurs,  where  the  path  was 
often  interrupted  by  perpendicular  steps  many  feet  in  height, 
down  which,  followed  by  my  horse,  I  scrambled,  more  by 
the   sense   of  touch  than  by  that  of  sight.     At  daybreak    I 

*  Waitz,  'Anthropology,'  p.  321. 


482  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

gained  the  last  height,  looking  down  on  Dilly  and  the  familiar 
island-dotted  scene,  and  reached  the  Palace  at  eight  o'clock, 
where  I  was  thankful  to  find  A.  amid  our  kind  friends  much 
recovered,  but  showing  in  her  emaciated  figure  how  severe  her 
sufferings  had  been.  When  the  trying  strain  she  was  exposed 
to  and  her  terrible  position  and  privations  are  realised,  it  is 
surprising  not  that  she  at  last  broke  down,  but  that  she  bore 
up  so  long  and  so  bravely.  From  her  journal,  which  she  had 
struggled  to  keep,  I  have  extracted  a  few  entries,  commencing 
some  days  after  my  departure. 

"  How  exceedingly  still  it  is !  Birds  now  come  and  perch 
on  the  very  rail  of  the  verandah — lovely  little  things  which  we 
could  get  only  a  glimpse  of  before  ;  and  in  the  near  vicinity 
the  Gamut-bird  practises  its  notes,  to  whose  clear  crescendo  I 
listen  with  rapt  attention.  Towards  evening  I  look,  eagerly 
even,  for  my  little  woman.  The  first  time  I  f  aw  her  she  was 
sitting  under  the  sloping  roof  of  her  hut,  devouring  an  unripe 
mango,  and  I  stayed  to  look  twice  to  be  sure  that  she  was 
really  human.  And  this  is  my  sole  companion,  for  whose 
return  I  long  !  I  am  trying  to  pick  up  from  her  some  words 
of  her  language ;  in  exchange  I  was  going  to  teach  her 
civilised  ways.  Feeling  too  weak  to  brush  my  hair,  and 
thinking  it  would  be  delightful  to  have  again  that  little 
attention,  I  showed  her  how  I  wished  it  done — by  quick,  firm 
strokes.  She  nodded  assent,  and  took  the  brush  ;  but,  alas  for 
my  hopes — she  vigorously  imitated  my  action — with  the  back 
of  the  brush  !  " 

[Other  visitors  than  birds  came  about  her  dwelling  for] 
"2V  wild-looking  man  from  the  mountains  came  past,  and, 
evidently  struck  by  the  novel-looking  hut,  with  its  appurte- 
nances of  civilisation  and  its  white  inhabitant,  he  stayed  to 
satisfy  his  curiosity,  and,  after  going  round  to  look  at  every- 
thing, he  lay  down  on  the  verandah  to  stare  at  me  "  ;  [and]  *'  last 
evening  at  sundown  my  quiet  was  disturbed  by  the  advent  of 
a  number  of  mountain  men,  who,  after  coolly  monoj^olising  my 
fireplace  to  roast  their  supper  of  maize  at,  spread  themselves  to 
sleep  on  my  verandah.  It  was  gorgeous  moonlight ;  and,  as  I 
was  very  w'akeful  and  restless,  I  rose  to  look  at  the  group  in 
deep  sleep  around  me.  What  a  very  strange  exj)erience  for  an 
unprotected  woman,  in  a  doorless  hut,  on  a  lonely  hillside,  thus 


IX  TIMOB.  483 

surrounded  by  a  number  of  semi-savages  !  I  have  been  trying 
to  occupy  myself  constantly  to  divert  me  from  the  loneliness 
01  my  situation,  but  I  am  often  helpless  from  fever." 

'Oly  nights  quite  sleepless,  I  lie  and  listen  for  the  return 
of  the  thieves  "  [who  had  entered  and  robbed  the  house,  and  had 
a  second  time  in  the  middle  of  the  night  returned,  decamp- 
ing, however,  on  A.'s  calling  out,  and  who,  had  she  dared  to 
oppose  them,  would  not  have  scrupled  to  put  it  beyond  her 
power  to  turn  informant.  When  writing  to  me  in  the  interior, 
with  rare  self-denial  she  restrained  from  telling  me  the  state 
of  affairs  at  FatunabaJ,  "  and  am  consequently  daily  more  and 
more  attacked  with  fever  ;  but  I  must  make  an  effort  to  see  to 
the  fire  in  the  drying-house,  where  the  herbarium  arriving  from 
the  interior  is  deposited."  [After  a  considerable  break  :]  "  Long 
bout  of  fever :  unable  to  do  more  than  sit  on  the  verandah ; 
the  silence  is  most  oppressive ;  my  old  woman  is  getting  tired 
of  her  duty,  and  forgets  to  come  to  me.  I  dare  not  expre^rS 
displeasure  when  she  does  come,  lest  she  desert  me  utterly, 
I  carefully  concealed  from  H.  all  mention  of  my  loneliness  and 
of  the  old  woman's  defalcations,  as  it  is  of  the  greatest  import- 
ance that  his  mind  should  be  free  from  anxiety  on  my  account ; 
but  perhaps  it  had  been  wiser  to  tell  him ;  for  I  feel  very  ill, 
and  it  is  only  tlie  thought  that  these  rare  plants  must  be  tended 
that  keeps  me  on  foot." 

[After  another  long  break :]  "  At  the  point  where  my  journal 
is  discontinued  I  quite  succumbed  to  what  was  as  much 
nervous  as  malarial  fever ;  day  after  day  attacks  came  on  with 
increasing  force,  while  my  powers  to  help  myself  became 
decreased.  The  old  woman  at  last  would  not  come  near  me ; 
by  signs  and  much  talking  she  indicated  that  she  would  be 
tabooed  by  her  own  people  if  she  stayed  by  a  sick  person." 
[She  doubtless  feared  that  she  might  be  thought  a  Swangi  or 
Disease-producer.]  "  I  had  then  to  fall  back  entirely  on  myself, 
as  she  would  not  carry  any  message  for  me  to  Dilly.  Fortu- 
nately there  was  a  store  of  water  in  our  largo  stone  tank,  and 
my  small  paraflin-stove  was  full  of  oil.  In  a  stronger  hour  I 
dragged  some  boxes  in  front  of  my  bed,  and  placed  within  reach 
rice,  salt  and  some  vessels.  Eggs  in  abundance  must  have 
been  within  a  few  hundred  yards  of  me  in  nests  among  the 
grass,  to  which  I  had  traced  our  few  fowls,  but  I  dared  not  ven- 


484  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

ture  so  far  in  the  morning — the  only  time  I  had  a  little  strength 
— in  the  very  high  winds  that  prevailed.  It  is  one  phase  of 
these  fevers  that  when  an  attack  has  passed  a  great  faintness 
comes  on,  which  even  a  mouthful  of  food  or  drink  will  relieve. 
I  never  fully  realised  the  boon  of  sick-room  attentions  till  I  had 
to  rouse  myself  at  these  faint  moments  to  cook  the  only  available 
food  I  could  take. — rice-water.  But  the  oil  in  my  small  lamp  at 
last  was  done,  and  I  was  unable  to  go  to  the  store  to  refill  it. 
For  some  days  I  must  have  been  delirious ;  during  the  nights  I 
tossed  in  my  sweat-soaked  garments,  sometimes  able  to  reach 
out  for  dry  ones,  sometimes  not ;  but,  more  than  from  all  the 
discomfort  and  weakness,  I  suffered  from  the  terrible  stillness. 
Undisturbed,  the  rats  played  in  wild  riot  through  my  hut  during 
the  day,  and  in  the  night  gnawed  everything  gnawable — some- 
times they  even  attempted  to  penetrate  inside  my  mosquito 
curtains,  within  which  I  had  dragged  my  store  of  rice.  So 
ferocious  were  they  that  I  saw  them  seize  a  parrot  on  a  tree 
which  overshadowed  the  hut,  which  they  brought  to  the 
verandah  and  devoured  there,  while  the  feathers  scattered  in 
the  wind.  I  shuddered  to  think  how  H.  would  find  me  if  I 
should  die  before  he  returned  or  help  should  come.  A  passinir 
lad — whom  I  sighted  through  the  bamboo  slits  of  the  hut — I 
called  to  me,  bribing  him  by  coin  after  coin  to  carry  a  note  to 
the  Palace  begging  for  medicine  and  aid.  Just  as  he  at  last 
consented,  after  much  dubitation,  and  the  most  urgent 
entreaty  on  my  part,  it  began  to  rain  [rain  is  always  abhorred 
by  the  natives],  which  made  him  hesitate  in  his  purpose — a 
terrible  moment  for  me ;  but,  espying  my  open  parasol  in  a 
corner,  he  seized  it  and  marched  off.  I  don't  know  whether  my 
hilarity  in  my  utter  prostration  was  more  at  the  ludicrous  figure 
he  cut,  his  only  wettable  garment  being  his  loin-cloth,  or  in 
hysterical  and  delighted  anticipation  of  obtaining  help  at  last." 
As  good  fortune  would  have  it,  this  lad  met  a  messenger 
from  Madame  da  Franga,  who  had  become  anxious  at  A.'s  long 
silence,  on  his  way  to  inquire  for  her.  The  news  of  her  state 
brought  at  once  the  doctor  and  a  friend  who  instantly  re- 
turned for  an  ambulance.  Though  the  afternoon  was  far  gone 
before  it  arrived  the  descent  was  at  once  begun.  The  carriers 
struggled  on  while  daylight  lasted — one  short  hour;  then, 
owing  to  the  steepness  of  the  road  and  the  darkness  of  the 


IN   TIMOR.  485 

night,  they  refused  to  carry  longer,  when  she  had  to  walk. 
After  a  terrible  journey  of  five  hours  duration  she  reached 
the  sympathy  and  comforts  of  the  Palace — kindnesses  which 
will  be  treasured  by  us  both  as  long  as  we  live. 

We  returned  at  once  to  our  home  at  Fatunaba,  whose  beauty 
was  as  fresh  to  us  as  ever,  and  it  was  impossible  not  to  feel  that 
there  could  be  no  fairer  spot  for  a  dwelling.  I  had  sufficient  to 
occupy  me  for  several  days  in  arranging  the  herbarium  already 
in  the  drying-house,  and  when  three  days  later,  the  giant  pack- 
ages collected  between  Saluki  and  Laclo  arrived  I  had  work  for 

several  weeks.     We  had  not  long  settled  when  A was  ae:ain 

laid  down  with  a  most  violent  type  of  fever  which  then  seemed 
to  be  specially  epidemic  in  Dilly,  and  to  which  one  of  the 
Governor's  sons  succumbed  in  a  sudden  paroxysm.  As  these 
attacks,  notwithstanding  all  the  remedies  tried,  daily  became 
more  severe,  we  decided  that  as  I  had  accomplished  all  that  was 
possible  in  Timor,  and  as  nothing  in  the  way  of  fitting  out  for 
my  next  journey  to  the  high  mountains  of  South-Eastern  Xew 
Guinea  could  be  done  in  Dilly,  our  wisest  course  was  to  return 
to  Europe  by  the  mail  due  about  the  3rd  of  June. 

On  the  30th  of  ]\[ay,  on  coming  out  at  daylight  into  the 
verandah,  I  was  thunderstruck  to  see  the  mail  steaming  into 
the  harbour — wlien  there  was  not  half  of  our  baggage  packed, 
and  all  the  porters  to  find.  Ilurrying  down  to  Dilly,  I  learned 
that  there  would  be  no  other  steamer  for  five  weeks,  but  that 
The  Lansherge  would  remain  till  next  evening.  Through 
Senhor  Albino's  kind  aid  I  obtained  a  company  of  men  in 
charge  of  a  sergeant,  and,  hastening  back  to  Fatunaba,  packed 
up  my  collections  and  such  articles  as  we  most  valued,  as  it 
was  evident  that  all  our  belongings  could  not  possibly  be 
transported  in  the  short  time  at  our  disposal.  The  Timorese 
carriers  and  A.'s  old  ape-like  woman — though  s'Jio  did  not 
deserve  it — were  made  frantically  happy  by  rewards  of  house- 
hold gear  and  paraphernalia,  plates,  spoons,  knives,  cooking 
utensils,  old  meat-tins,  and  gifts  of  such  trade  articles  as 
mirrors,  beads,  and  kerchiefs,  as  had  escaped  the  notice  of 
the  thieves. 

We  were  forced  to  leave  behind  us  the  whole  rude  furnish- 
ings of  the  house — stoves,  lamps,  water-tanks,  cans  of  petro- 
leum, stools,  gunpowder   and  shot,  and  a  considerable   store 


486  A   NATURALIST'S   WANDERINGS. 

of  kanipa,  or  gin,  Avith  filthy  spirits  of  wine  in  bottles  of 
the  same  shape.  We  have  often  pictured  to  ourselves  the 
astonished  eyes  and  the  jubilant  dance  of  the  first  Timorese 
who,  passing  by,  should  find  the  deserted  hut,  and  its  Eldorado 
of  kanipa  and  the  rest,  especially  if  he  commenced  with  the 
snake-tinctured  spirits  of  wine — all  his  for  the  appropriating  ! 

By  five  o'clock  in  the  evening  the  last  porter's  load  dis- 
appeared round  the  elbow  of  the  hill ;  but  we  remained  behind 
for  a  little  to  take  a  last  sorrowful  farewell  of  the  sweet  spot 
in  which  we  had  spent  so  many  days  of  privation  and  sickness 
hard  enough  to  bear  while  they  lasted,  but  which  have  long- 
been  quite  forgotten,  while  the  sujDreme  happiness  we  ex- 
j^erienced  in  our  work  together  and  the  surpassing  beauty 
of  the  scene  on  which  we  daily  looked,  will  remain  among 
our  most  treasured  reminiscences  as  long  as  memory  lasts. 
As  it  was  impossible  to  obtain  sufficient  porters  to  carry  A. 
the  long  irksome  descent  had  to  be  accomplished  on  foot, 
painfully,  but  with  uncomplaining  and  resigned  cheerfulness, 
for  was  it  not  for  the  last  time  ?  By  nine  o'clock  we  stepped 
on  board.  Owing  to  the  fall  of  a  horse  baggage  and  all,  down 
a  steep  slope,  and  the  breakdown  and  running  away  of  some 
of  the  porters,  it  was  only  at  sundown  of  next  day  that  the 
last  of  our  baggage  was  safely  shipped.  By  a  hapj^y  coinci- 
dence the  Governor  and  his  family — fewer  by  two,  and  wofully 
altered  by  sickness — were  again  our  fellow-passengers  on  their 
way  back  to  Europe. 

In  the  early  morning  of  the  1st  of  June  we  steamed  away  for 

Batavia  via  Amboina,  and  a  few  hours  later  our  hut  on  the 

Fatunaba  rocks,  glinting  in  the  morning  sun,  disappeared  below 

the  horizon.     After  one  more  day  under  the  nutmeg  arbours  of 

Banda,  and  a  farew  ell  visit  to  our  friend's  Machik  in  Amboina, 

we  reached  Menado  on  the  10th,  where  we  were  delayed  by 

rough  weather.     "  It's  an  ill  wind  that  blows  nobody  good." 

In  the  gale  our  steamer  dragged  her  anchor,  which  had  to  be 

hauled  in,  and  when  it  appeared  it  brought  with  it  three  other 

anchors,  where, 

"  On  an  island's  Aviuding  shore, 

There  for  ages  long  they  lay, 

At  the  bottom  of  a  bay," 

each  more  foul  than  the  other,  with  hydroid  Zoophytes,  Sponges 


488  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS. 

and  Crustacea,  which  were  specially  handed  over  to  me  and 
carefully  bottled.     A  list  of  them  is  given  in  the  Appendix. 

Off  the  north-west  cape  of  Celebes,  we  passed  between  the 
mainland  and  a  broad  slice  of  land,  with  small  trees  and  stumps 
erect  on  it,  drifting  in  a  north-easterly  direction.  After 
short  calls  at  Macassar,  at  Ampanam  in  Lombock,  and  at 
Baleling  in  Bali,  we  reached  Surabaya  on  the  2ord  of  the 
month.  Here  we  had  with  deep  regret  at  last  to  say  good-bye 
to  the  Da  Franpa  family,  to  whom  we  had  been  indebted  for  the 
greatest  possible  official  and  private  kindnesses,  as  it  was 
necessary  for  us  to  trans-ship  for  Batavia,  where  we  arrived  five 
days  later. 

We  had  nine  days  to  spare  before  the  arrival  from  Brisbane 
of  the  mail  for  Europe.  These  were  spent  in  the  delicious 
and  salubrious  air  of  Buitenzorg,  in  packing  up  my  bulky 
herbarium,  and  in  the  renewing  of  many  old  friendships. 

On  July  9th  we  sailed  in  the  British  India  Company's 
mail  steamer  Quetta — at  last  homeward  bound.  At  sundown 
we  dropped  our  pilot  at  Anjer  sleeping  peacefully  among  its 
cocoa-nut  palms,  and  a  few  hours  later  passed  the  blazing  crater 
of  Krakatoa — scenes  well  known  and  familiar  to  me,  of  which  I 
retain  many  most  pleasing  memories ;  but  it  was  the  last  look 
that  was  ever  to  be  possible  to  me ;  for,  ere  little  more  than  a 
month  had  passed,  both  were  doomed  to  destruction. 

A  study  of  the  small  maps  on  the  preceding  page  will  con- 
vey some  idea  of  the  violence  of  the  eruption,  from  the  changes 
that  have  resulted  in  the  geography  of  the  spot. 

On  the  13th  of  August  the  Quetta  reached  Plymouth,  and  on 
the  14th  we  arrived  in  London,  transported  in  75  days  from 
the  make-shifts,  discomforts,  and  rough  contrivances  of  a  rude 
hut  among  half-naked  savages,  to  all  the  elegances  of  a  great 
London  hotel,  with  its  fashionable  crowd,  a  contrast — to  me 
certainly — too  great  to  be  comfortable  or  pleasant  for  some  time 
at  least.  I  realised  that  I  was  more  than  half  a  barbarian,  to 
whom  the  restraints  of  civilisation  had  become  irksome,  and 
who  would  have  rejoiced  to  have  been  at  once  spirited  back 
again  to  his  swarthy  friends  in  the  Eastern  Archipelago. 


APPEXDIX  TO  PAET  YI. 


I. — Xames  of  the  MONTHS  in  Timor. 


(Saluki)  Bibi^u^n. 


Funu 


Falii 


Karu 


Fotan 


Madauk 
Wani 

Ihi     ..      . 

Mfuhii  loot 
Mtulai  kith 


In  this  month  (corresponding 
to  abont  our  December)  they 
plant  the  vater,  or  Indian 
com,  and  sow  the  dry  ground 
rice. 

Clear  grass  out  from  among  tiie 
vater  and  rice. 

"  Great  month.'  Indian  corn 
is  in  flower.  Heavy  rains 
and  all  rivers  flooded. 

The  name  of  the  month  pro- 
bably a  corruption  of  the 
IMaliiy  Potoncj,  the  cutting  or 
harvest  montli.  In  it  they 
gather  in  the  ripe  Indian 
corn,  and  give  a  great  oifer- 
ing  to  the  Luli,  a  sort  of 
Harvest  Thanksgiving,  the 
Indian  corn  being  their  stajile 
food. 

Harvest  dry  rice  fields. 

Honey  and  wa.\  harvest. 

Possibly  a  corruption  of  TJii 
or  Hweet  potnt/),  which  crop 
in  this  month  is  dug  up  and 
harvested. 

Month  of  fogs  and  heavy  rains 
from  the  sta. 

Less  rain ;  little  possible  to  be 
done  tiiese  two  months. 


Samoro. 


Leet  ali 

Fahi 
Naru 

Tora 


Madauk  .. 
Wani 
Uhi  bout   . . 

TJlii  kiik  . . 
Lakuhutik 


Same  operations. 

Same  operations. 
Same  operations. 

Same  operations. 


Same  operations. 
Same  operations. 
Same  operations. 

Same  operations. 
Same  operations. 


490 


A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


Lalcuhutik 
hoot 

Lakuhutik 
Mili 


Led 


(Suluki)  Bibi9U9u. 


Still  showery 


Very  hot.  In  this  month,  after 
great  offerino;  to  the  LulL 
starch  is  made  for  gold,  and 
cintiimed  only  during  this 
month. 

Hot  month.  Grass  is  burned, 
and  preparations  made  for 
planting  the  Indian  corn. 


Samoro. 


Same  operations. 
Same  operatiods. 

Same  operations. 


There  are  thus  twelve  months,  which  they  reckon  by  moons,  in  their  years. 
How  many  days  there  are  in  a  moon  they  did  not  seem  to  know,  for  the  number 
was  variously  give  as  sixteen  to  thirty-five 


II. — Dialects  spoken  in  Eastern  Timor. 

In  the  different  districts  of  Timor,  different  dialects  (or  (?)  languages)  are 
found  to  be  spoken.  The  following  is  a  list  of  the  names  of  those  said  to  be 
spoken  in  the  region  trr.versed  by  me,  with  the  districts  in  which  they  are 
spoken : — 


Mamhia  or  Kaladi . . 

Tetu  (more  or  less  the 
lingua  franca  of  E. 
Timor) 

Idate .. 

Lalcale 

Mauhenke 

Veke  .. 

Vaiqueno 

Galolo 

Marai 

Manohai 

Kemak 

Tociulade 

Dagada 

Macassai 

Naubete 

Meadik 


Turscain ;    Motael ;    Hermera ;    Kaimauk ;    Hera  ; 

Laicor. 
Barique' ;  Bibi^u^u ;  Alias ;  Suai ;    Hera  ;    Saluki  ; 

Laclubar  ;  Bailobo  ;  Cotubaba. 

Cairui;  Laclubar;  Mantutu ;  Viqueque. 
Bibi9U9u;  Kimauk  ;    Vemasse ;    Barique;    Alius; 

Samoro. 
T.alea;  Vemasse;  Mantutu;  Fatumarto;  Vinilale. 
Bailobo. 
Cova ;  Suai. 
Hera ;  Laculo  ;  Motaiil ;  Lalea ;  Mantutu  ;  Luga  ; 

Vemasse. 
Manufahi ;  Eameau ;  Rolule. 
Alias;  Samoro;  Tituluiu;  Turscain. 
Bailobo;  Cora;  Sauir  ;  Cutobab.i ;  Kailakuk;  At- 

tesabe  ;  Bnibau ;  Diribate ;  Lameian  ;  Maheibo. 
Boibau  ;  Liqui9 1 ;  Maubara. 
Lalea  ;  Faturo  ;  Saraii. 
Lug.i ;  Vemasse. 
Luca. 
Faturo  ;  Luga ;  Sarau. 


IN  TIMOR. 


491 


III. — Vocahulary  of  three  of  the  above  dialects,  the  Kaladi,  the  Tetu, 
and  the  Lakale  : — 


accuser 

ache 

acquaint 

add 

advance 

afraid 

ajred 

all 

allow 

angry 

animal 

ankle 

ant 

arm 

ashes 

ask 

assert 

attack 

avenge 


back 
backloQo 

bad 

bag 
bamboo 

banana 
banish 

bark 

bat 

batlie 

battle 

beak 

beard 

beat  (dium) 

beeswax 

begin 

belieaJ 

behind 

belly 

beneath 

bid 

big 

bird 

birth 

bite 

black 

blade 

bleat 

blind 


Kaladi. 

Tetu. 

Lakale. 

matenek 

moras 

banas 

fohatene 

autada 

tantanbarak 

laiiluk 

kamtauk 

amtauk 

katuas 

niaitu 

hothotu 

tilirlama 

holiuk 

.. 

hirus 

bisemirus  \ui 

ikudakarau 
\kudawarak 

•  • 

, , 

aifuku 

,, 

nehek 

nehek 

, , 

lima 

aulimak 

, , 

aikesa 

waiahu 

.. 

husu 

,, 

suiung 

, , 

labelle  halistori 

(loronseluk 

** 

(ossi  sehere' 

.. 

navarik| 
(nurak  / 

tiukwano. 

,, 

kotuk 

kotidi 

kotuk 

•  • 

( istori  1 
\  pegte'j 

istori 

, , 

kohe 

^^ 

au ;  fafulu  (small 

bamboo) 

^^ 

hudi 

1  distcrra  (Portug.) 
1  bahu 

•• 

faikulit  (tree) 
\asungeri  (dog) 

" ' 

niki 

heris 

liiis 

hotudar 

, , 

niunu 

,. 

hassa  rahun 

,, 

lierd 

,, 

lilin 

., 

foinhala 

., 

taulu 

,. 

kotuk 

,. 

kabu 

.. 

karaik 

akardebum 

,. 

orde  (Portug.) 

.. 

biiot 

am  tun 

maiiufoik 

mauliui 

foinmoris 

, , 

tata 

^, 

metang 

metang 

,. 

tudik-ici 

,, 

heme' 

,. 

rnata  lahare 

talk  re 

492 


A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


Kaladi. 

Tetu. 

Lakale, 

blood 

ran 

ran 

blue 

hena  metan 

busuk 

boar 

^, 

fuhi  aman 

boat 

rokik 

body 

ici  lolong 

boifing  water 

bemanas 

bold 

totor 

bondman 

atta 

bone 

, , 

riu 

riu 

bore 

,. 

halukuak 

bow 

•• 

rama 

arrow  =  rama-ici 

boy 

lavarik 

bracelet 

.. 

puti  lima 

branch  (of  tree) 

.. 

ailiman 

brave 

("oswai 
1  Asuwai 

bread 

., 

morteng 

breast 

,, 

hiris  mat.i 

hiris  mata 

breatlie 

ausuhu 

bridge 

aileteto 

bring 

•• 

hodi 

hodi  mai  =  bring 
here 

odi ;  odi  ma  (b.  here). 

brother 

., 

maluk 

brother-hi-law 

ria 

broad 

naruk 

narong 

buffalo 

kaiau 

build 

lialu 

burial 

taman  mati 

burn 

ahi  ha 

butterfly 

,. 

babeba 

kabeba 

button 

faro 

buy 

tlosa 

calabash 

ohukunua 

call 

bolu 

atarkau 

carry 

foti  taukabas 

lalui  itabas 

cat 

busa 

catch 

lako 

lakon 

chair 

kadera  (Portug.) 

chalk 

ahu 

cheer 

lorsang 

lorsang 

child 

feto  kiik ;  older, 
feto  boot 

chin 

, , 

hassa 

ita  hassar 

clay 

tahu 

dark 

raikalan 

cloth 

tais 

lusa 

cloud 

, , 

aibabu 

club 

, , 

aidona 

jiadassi  teman 

coat 

faru 

cocoa-nut 

nu 

cofBn 

aibalu 

aivahi 

cold 

, , 

maliri 

muruk 

colour 

, , 

metang 

comb 

.. 

satoit 

come 

"• 

mai 

(a)  e  you  coming  ?  = 
tainte  he? 

comet 

«• 

kilat  lololeting 

lorolcting  saki 

IN 

TIMOR. 

493 

Kaladi. 

Tetu. 

Lakale. 

to  cook 

tengotu 

cough 

mear 

mear 

country 

uiki 

niki 

couragei 

maumetang 

cradle 

boi 

cry 

lanis  (as  a  child) 

sero 

curl 

futufriuk 

leokulu 

cut 

ta 

lai 

natessi 

dance 

iinnbidu 

atarlebidu 

dark 

raikalau 

dauglittr 

hausafeto 

day 

loron 

k'long 

dead 

., 

mate' 

atarmate 

.leaf 

telundiuk 

.  tilarkadiuk 

dear 

foleng  tnda 

holing  kas 

deep 

raikuak 

larakura 

depart 

,. 

baona 

tisoi 

desire 

, , 

haukakara 

ilew 

niahobo 

mohowek 

difficult 

^, 

kole 

kole 

distant 

riiok 

lamarong 

dog 

asu 

asu 

door 

hodomata 

dream 

mchi 

steu  mehi 

drink 

Hmn 

hemu 

tnu 

drown 

motahodi 

loonodi 

drum 

baba 

drunk 

lauu 

a  tar  lanu 

dry 

maranona  . 

nangbut 

dumb 

pakonteng 

misi  minis 

eagle 

makikit 

ear 

tehi 

tilar 

enrthquake 

rainagtoko 

lamaliklain 

early 

dadelsasang 

busia 

east 

loro  sait 

Iclo  taibutak 

eclipse 

ahi  liafulan 

egg 

mantelu 

mantelor 

elbow 

sikruohan 

itsiur 

empty 

raamuk 

maue 

enough 

toona 

atarmasoi 

equal 

hanessandeli 

hauessansoi 

evening             •.,';• 

—                     • . 

lor  kraik 

cxpeclorato 

kaubeng 

alxrloldk 

eye 

mata 

ilu  matar 

f-ice 

oi 

fall 

^ , 

monu 

far 

rook 

lamarong 

father 

ama 

itamar 

fast 

lalais 

fat 

bokur 

boih" 

fatiguo 

kole 

feather 

niauufulu 

mauuhnlu 

fever 

, , 

isimanas 

atar  Iclongpanas 

iinger 

, , 

lima  fiiau 

laman  huan  ici 

firo 

ahi 

Ash 

ikan 

ikan 

flap 

kokoieik 

kokoreik 

flesh 

, , 

nai'ui 

flower 

^ , 

aifuan 

tly 

.. 

hilar 

lalar 

33 


494 


A   NATURALIST'S    WATERINGS 


Kaladi. 

Totu. 

Lakale. 

follow 

tuir 

loretuir  aunia 

foot 

aitanlar.i 

iwetanalala 

Jbrehead 

retos 

itretos 

forget 

halulia 

itnlehaluasoi 

fragraut 

^, 

inori 

lalcmori 

friend 

•• 

lljeluk  (high)j 
\nai  (low)      / 

itu  pelur 

froth 

.. 

kisal 

kisal 

fruit 

.. 

aifuan 

aihuak 

frv 

sona 

tena 

full 

,, 

nokonu 

penu 

fur 

., 

fulu 

bisilita 

garden 

tcs 

ginger 

kinur 

give 

., 

foeng 

hemuri 

goat 

,, 

bibi 

bibi 

go  away 

.. 

ba 

uri;  lamo 

gold,  coined 

dise 

gold,  dust 

inuiak 

good 

dipk 

ia 

grass 

doiit 

duiit 

luiit 

grave 

rate' 

airie  =  polo     with 
horns 

rate 

>jreen 

netahau  modok 

matak 

mat;ik 

gun 

kilat 

kilat 

gunpowder 

kilat  rahun 

kilat  rahun 

Jiair 

fu 

hand  up 

lolo 

hit 

konno 

hold  (fast) 

.. 

kair  lialrosa 

hot 

manas 

house 

nriia 

how  many? 

heera 

hunger 

hamluhim.i 

Indian  corn 

batai 

knife 

taha ;  tudik 

large 

boLut 

leads  (shot) 

milissa 

leaf;  leaves 

katemu;  airaha 

lightning 

railaka 

lony; 

naruk 

naruk 

mango 

has 

mare 

kuda  ina 

mat 

viti 

viti 

me 

hau 

milk 

susu 

mountain 

lofo 

nephew 

.. 

tin 

night 

.. 

raikalau 

pig 

pahi 

fahi 

post  (pillar) 

airing 

cross-beams  to  l'ol(l\iaj.jis 
up  roof         . .       j 

gable-  posts 

kakukui 

rain 

udan 

rat 

mama 

red 

hena 

rice 

fos 

rice  (in  husk) 

hari-raean 

IN  TIMOE. 


495 


Kalali. 


sea 

shut 

siri  (for  chewing) 

sleep 

small 

sneeze 

tatoo 

thumb 

thunder 

toe 

toe,  grreat 

verandah  (flo^l•) 

water 

well,  arj  vou? 

west 

wet 

white 
wood 


tassi 


malus 
toba 


Tetu. 
tassi 
taka 
malus 

kiiki 

kus 

hedik 

lima  fr.an  biJot 

raitarutu 

aifuaii  kiiki 

aifuau  boot 

hadak 

be 

sien  diak 

lore  mauu 

Jsedau  niara 

(sematuk 

hena  mit'.n 


Lakak 


G 

7 

8 

9 

10 

11 

12 

13 

20 

21 

2 ' 

30 

40 

50 

60 

70 

80 

90 

100 

101 

110 

120 

150 

1000 


Totu. 

ida 

rtia 

loin 

haiit 

lima 

ne 

hitti 

Widu 

sia 

sanulii 

sauulu  risin  ida 
„  „   rua 

„  „  tolu 

ruauulu 


Kaladi. 


Lakale. 


Firaku. 


rcsiu  ida 
„      lua 


tolanulu 

haatanulu 

limanulu 

iieauulu 

hitariulu 

walanulu 

sianulu 

atu  si  da 


rauulu 
tolulu 


rua 

Ifilai 

tela 

lolitu 

aiit 

phar 

lima 

lima 

ne 

tahu 

hitu 

fitu 

walu 

palu 

sii 

siba 

sakulu 

rutu 

„       resin  isa 

ruanulu 

rudu  lolai 

rudu  lolitu 

atu  sisa 


resin  ida 
^anulu 
ruanulu 
lunanulu 


rihuQ  ida 


496  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


IV, — On  a   new   species  of  CoLEorTERA   of  the  famihi  CF.TOXllDiE,  from 
E.  Timor.     By  Oliver  E.  Janson,  M.E.S. 

ClINTERIA  FORBESI,  SJ).  710V. 

Above  (lull  black  with  pa'e  oclireous-yel'ow  si^ots.  Hoad  coarsely 
imnctured,  slightly  shining  at  the  sides,  clypeus  moderately  emai'ginate 
at  the  ajiex,  the  convex  centre  and  elevated  margins  pale  ochreous. 
Thorax  sparsely  but  rather  coarsely  i:»unctured ;  a  sub-quadrate  sjwt  at 
the  anterior  angles,  an  elongate  one  on  each  side  behind,  and  two  spots 
on  the  disk.  Elytra  depressed,  with  a  sutural  and  several  discal  rows 
of  indistinct  semi-circular  punctures;  a  large  triangular  patch  before 
the  middle,  a  bi-lobed  lateral  spot,  a  small  elongate  one  near  the  suture, 
and  a  large  marginal  spot  on  the  apex.  Pygidium  with  coarse  inter- 
rupted transverse  stride  and  a  small  spot  on  each  side.  Under-side  and 
legs  shining  black,  punctate,  strigose  and  with  sfarse  brown  i^ubescence; 
epimera  aliove,  sides  of  sternum  and  abdomen  with  pale  ochreous  spots; 
mesosterual  process  long,  obtuse  and  slightly  oblique.  Length,  13  mm. 
Timor. 

This  elegant  species  appears  to  be  most  nearly  allied  to  C.  Jiageni,  Eits. 


V. — A  List  of  the  organisms  found  adhering  to  three  anchors  dredged  up 
from  the  Bay  of  Meuado,  Celebes.  By  S.  0.  EiDLEY,  M.A.,  F.L.S.,  and 
J.  J.  QuELCH,  B.Sc,  F.Z.S,  of  the  British  Museum. 

A.  Corcds. 

Dendrophyllia,  sp.  nov. 

Phyllangia  papiiensis,  Stud.  Very  abundant.  For  a  valuable  jiaper, 
liy  Mr.  8.  O.  Eidley,  On  mnie  dructn.res  liable  to  variation,  in  the 
suh-fumih/  Astrangiaccx  (Madrepnraria),  founded  on  the  examina- 
tion of  this  specimen,  see  Journal  Liu.  Soc.  vol.  xvii.  1884,  p.  359, 
et  seqq. ;  plates.     (H.  O.  F.) 

■  B.  Sponges. 

Tuba  iiiuricina,  Lam. 
Pachyclialina  sp. 
Euspongia  sp. 

C.  Polyzoa — Cheilostomata. 

^tia  angunia,  L. 

]\Iicropoi-elIa  ciliata.  Pall.,  vur.  personata,  Bnak 
Lepralia  partus.),  Espr. 
Schizojiorella  paisevalii,  And. 
Scliizotheca  fissa,  Busl: 
Smithia  landsborovi,  Jolinst. 
Cellepora  larreyi,  And. 
sp.  indeterm. 
cycddstomata. 
Crissia  holdsworthii.  Busl:. 

etenostomata. 

sp.  (apparently  uewj. 

D.  Ilijdrozoa — Hydroida. 

Tuhularia  iudivisa,  L. 

rugosa,  D'Orh. 
Aglaopheiaia  pliiliprana,  Kirch. 
laxa,  Allntan. 


IN   TIMOR.  497 


VI. — Prodomus  Flor^  Timorensis  ;  compiled  in  the  Botanical  Department 
of  the  British  Museum. 

The  flora  of  Timor  is  one  of  great  interest,  but  only  very  limited 
herbaria  exist  of  it.  In  preparing  the  following  sketch  of  the  chief 
collections  made  in  the  island  I  am  greatly  indebted  for  assistance  to 
Mr.  H.  N.  Eidley. 

.  In  1639-1700  Dampier  visited  the  islands;  the  few  jjlants  he  collected 
there  were  deserilied  by  l{ay. 

AVhen  in  1787,  the  Bounty,  under  Captain  Bligh,  was  conveying 
bread-fruit  trees  from  Otaheite  to  the  "West  Indies,  the  crew  miitinied, 
and  the  captain,  together  with  David  Nelson,  botanist  of  the  exi^edi- 
tion,  and  nineteen  others  of  the  crew  were  cast  adrift  in  an  open  boat, 
near  the  Friendly  Islands.  They  made  their  way  (3600  miles)  to  Timor, 
where  Kelson  died  in  I7t9.  The  plants  he  collected  in  the  island  are 
in  the  British  Museum. 

In  October  1792,  Christopher  Smith  and  James  Wiles  collected  a 
number  of  plants  in  Timor,  on  their  way  from  Otaheite  in  the  shij) 
Providence,  under  Captain  Bligh.  They  took  also  from  Timor  and  other 
^lalayan  islands  various  useful  jilants  to  introduce  together  with  the 
bread-fruit  trees,  into  the  "West  Indies.  The  plants  collected  in  this 
expedition  are  also  in  the  British  Museum. 

In  1803,  IviEDLE,  Sautier,  and  Guichenot,  gardeners  attached  to 
the  expedition  of  the  vessels  Nuturaliste  and  Geogrnphe,  under  Captain 
15audin,  visited  the  island.  The  expedition  started  from  France  in 
1801,  and  reached  Timor  in  1803.  The  plants  were  described  by  Do 
Caisne  in  the  Xouvelles  Annales  du  Museum  d'Histoire  yatureUe,  and  are 
preserved  in  the  Ilerbarium  Delessert  and  in  the  Paris,  British,  and  Kew 
]Museinns. 

In  April  of  the  same  year  Egbert  Brown  stopped  at  the  island  for  a 
short  time  on  his  return  from  the  Iter  Australiense.  He  remained  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  Coupang,  "West  Timor,  and  made  a  collection  of 
considerable  extent,  containing  many  jolants  of  extreme  interest.  These, 
together  with  a  manuscript  list  of  their  native  names,  are  in  the  her- 
barium of  tlie  British  Museum,  and  a  set  is  also  in  the  Yit-nna  herbarium 
to  which  they  were  presented  by  Ferdinand  Bauer,  the  companion  of 
Kobert  Brown  in  his  travels. 

In  the  end  of  1818,  Gaudichaud  visited  Timor  in  the  voyage  of  the 
Uranic,  and  in  the  '  Voyage  de  TUranie,'  chapter  viii.,  gives  an  account 
of  the  island  and  its  products. 

In  1818-1819,  Captain  King  visited  the  island  with  Allan  Cunning- 
ham, who  made  a  small  but  most  interesting  collection  of  jilants,  which, 
Avith  the  manuscript  account  of  his  travels,  are  preserS'ed  in  the  British 
!Mnscnm. 

In  1822.  Beinwardt  returned  to  Europe  with  his  collections,  which 
are  in  the  Ley  den  Musenm. 

In  September  1825,  Captain  IXterrey  in  the  voyage  of  the  CoquiUe 
visited  Coujiang  in  West  Timor. 

In  1828,  ZiPi'EL  went  in  the  expedition  under  Dr.  Maklot  in  the  Triton 
and  /ris,  to  the  islands,  and  collected  a  number  of  plants,  which  are 
preserved  in  the  Ilerbarium  Delessert,  Paris. 

In  1831,  J.  B.  Spanoghe,  the  Dutch  Kesident,  made  explorations  in  the 
west  of  the  island,  and  sent  his  collections  to  Holland.  The  jilants  were 
pulilished  in  Hooker's  '  Companion  to  the  Botanical  Miecellauy,'  vol.  i^ 
and  '  Linnjea/  vol.  xv. 


498  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

Early  in  1840,  D'Urville  touched  at  Coupang  in  the  voyage  of  the 
Astrolabe,  and  with  Ho.mbron  collected  some  plants. 

In  1843,  Captain  Sir  Everakd  Home  collected  a  few  plants  in  Timor 
on  his  way  home  from  China. 

Mr.  A.  E.  Wallace,  in  his  celebrated  travels  in  the  Archipelago, 
resided  in  several  parts  of  Timor,  but  though  devoting  himself  almost 
exclusively  to  the  zoology  of  the  island,  he  found  time  to  make  a  small 
collection  of  grasses,  which  are  preserved  in  the  Kew  Herbarium. 

Mr.  J.  E.  I'eysmann  devoted  a  long  life  to  the  botanical  investigation 
of  the  islands  of  both  the  Indo-  and  Austro-Malayan  regions.  In  his  col- 
lecting tours  on  behalf  of  the  Botanical  Gardens,  Buitenzorg,  extending 
over  a  perio;!  of  nearly  half  a  century,  from  about  1830-1880,  he  visited 
Timor  on  more  than  one  occasion.  His  herbarium  is  preserved  in  the 
Museums  of  both  Leyden  and  Buitenzorg. 

Mr.  J.  G.  F.  EiEDEL,  at  one  time  Dutch  Eosident  in  Coupang,  West 
Timor,  sent  to  the  Botanical  Museum  in  Dresden  a  collection  of  plants,  of 
which  a  small  number  were  communicated  in  187'J  to  the  Kew  Her- 
barium by  Dr.  Meyer. 

The  Author's  herbarium,  from  which  the  new  species  enumerated 
below  are  described,  was  made  in  the  eastern  portion  of  the  island,  from 
December  1882  to  May  1883. 

The  various  localities  where  collections  were  made,  are  given  J.ere  in 
the  order  in  which  they  were  visited.  A  traverse  survey  was  kept  up 
throughout  the  journey ;  but,  owing  to  the  extreme  inaccuracy  in  all 
existing  available  maps  of  several  of  the  initial  points  of  observation  on 
which  the  rjst  of  the  traverse  depjcnds,  it  has  been  found  impossible  to 
lay  down  my  route.  Only  when  a  map  rcjiresenting  with  accuracy  the 
various  positions  of  the  heights  and  capes  of  the  neighbouring  islands  of 
Kambing,  Wetter,  and  AUor,  has  been  made,  can  my  geographical 
observations  be  utilised. 

1.  Fatunaba  Hills. — My  camp  was  pitched  at  an  elevation  of  1700 
feet  on  these  hills,  situated  a  few  miles  due  south  of  Dilly,  and  collec- 
tions made  from  Dec.  19, 1882,  to  lilarch  30,  18fc3.  Excursions  were  made 
all  round  the  neighbourhood. 

2.  Erlura.— My  camp,  30th  March,  3475  feet  above  sea  level;  a  long 
day's  march  on  my  way  to  the  interior  from  Fatunaba,  situated  with  the 
peak  of  lUimanu  Cajje  bearing  N.  64°  E.  and  the  peak  of  Pulo  Kambing 
N.  13°  W. 

3.  Fatete. — Halting-place  on  the  31st  March,  on  the  W.  side  of  the 
wide  valley  of  the  Komai. 

4.  LiGiDoiK. — Our  halting-place  on  the  1st  April,  3350  ft.  on  the  other 
side  of  the  valley.  Bv  prismatic  compass  Fatete  bore  N.  45°  W. ;  Cape 
lUimanu  N.  44°  E.  and*  Kabalaki  peak  W.  48°  S. 

5.  Sauo. — Camp  of  April  2nd,  in  the  vallev  of  the  Wai  Matang  Kai- 
mauk,  3200  ft.,  Turskain  ],eak  bearing  S.  18°  E. 

6.  TuRSK.\iN.— Cam])  from  April  3rd  to  Cth,  4000  feet  above  the  sea. 
Situation:  Li^idoik  bearing  N.  24°  W. ;  Pulo  Kambing  peak,  N.  16°  W. ; 
Kabalaki  peak,  S.  47°  W. 

7.  BiBinuyu,  Eajah's  of.— Camp  3000  feet,  from  April  6th  to  22nd. 
Situation.  Kahalaki  peak  bearing  S.  75°  W. ;  Luca  Cape,  S.  85°  E. ; 
Mount  Sobale,  N.  40°  E. 

8.  Saluki,  in  the  kingdom  of  BibicuQU.— 3400  ft.  April  22nd  to  26th. 
Situation:  Kabalaki  peak  bearing  S.  70°  W. ;  Barique  Mount,  E.  1°  S. 

9.  Kailakuk,  in  the  kingdom  of  Bibicncu.— 2100  ft.  April  26th  to  28th, 
Situation :  Kabalaki  peak  bearing  W.  10°  S. ;  Mount  Sobale,  N.  3°  W. ; 
Mount  Tahaolat,  N.  78°  W. 


IN   TIMOB.  499 


10.  Samoro.— April  28th  to  May  3i-d.  (a)  Rajah's  of,  900  ft.  Situation  : 
Mount  Sohale  bearing  N.  63°  W.;  Barique  Mount,  S.  62^  E.  (6)  Sobale 
Mount,  5000  ft.  to  6000  ft.  Situation:  Cape  Ulimanu  bearing  N.  6^ 
E. ;  Mount  Barique  E.  35°  S. ;  Wetter  Island  summit  N.  11°  W. 

11.  Laclo. — A  village  not  far  inland  from  the  mouth  of  the  river  of  the 
same  name,  near  Cape  Illimanu.     I  camped  here  on  the  5th  Maj'. 

Note. — The  numbers  after  a  flant—for  example:  3610,  7 — indicate  the 
number  in  my  herharium.,  3610,  and  the  station,  7,  tvhere  the  plant  was 
found. 

POLYPETAL^,  by  J.  BaiTTEN,  F.L.S. 

Ranunculace<e. 

Clematis  Leschenaultiana,  DC. 
biternata,  DC. 

Marjnollaeem. 

Michclia  Champaca.  L. 
velutiua,  Bl.  ? 
Anonacese. 

Uvaria  timorensis,  Bl. 

glabra,  Span. 
Mitrephoia  (?)  divcrsifulia 
Anona  muricata,  Dun. 
Artabotrys  odoratisgimus,  Br. 

Memspermacece. 

Stephaiiia  heinandifolia,  Walp.  (S.  discolor,  Walp.),  3610,  7 ;    3815,  10  b. 

Anamirta  Cocculus,  W.  &  A.     (A.  populifolius,  Miers) 

Pachygoiie  ovata,  Miers. 

Pericampylus  incamis,  Miers,  3G26,  4015,  7. 

Meiiispermacea,  4014  (leaves  ouly). 

Cruciferx. 

Sinapis  timoiiaiia,  DC.     3787,  9. 

Capparidese. 

Gynandiopsis  pentaphylln,  DC.     3773,  3939,  4054,  9. 

Polaiiisia  viscos:i,  DC.      3747,  pods   adhere   to  everything  and   tl.us   get 

transported;  8. 
Cadaba  cappaioides,  DC. 
Capparis  subcordata.  Span. 

trapeziflora.  Span. 

Mariana,  Jarq. 

dealbata,  DC. 

pubiflora,  ])C. 

nigricans.  Span. 

sepiaria,  L. 

elliptica,  Sjian. 

sp.  (bud).    4021. 
Violacew. 

Viola  Patriuii,  DC.     3491,  6. 

Iniiidimn  enneaspermuni,  Veid.     "Timor?" 

Alsudeia  laacrophylla.  Dene. 

Bixineas. 

Xylosma  fragraiis,  Dene. 

Fittosporex. 

Pittospoium  timortnso,  Bl 


500  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


I'oltjgalen'. 

"Polygala  pcrsicariajfolia,  DC.    3185,  2.    3887  a  hoUyceii  10  aud  U.    3044,  6. 
rul'a,  Span. 
humilis.  Span. 

CarijophyUca;. 

Dryiuaria  cordata,  L.     3910,  Q, 

FortulacesR. 

Portulaca  quadrifida,  L. 

Elalinex. 

Elatino  animannoides,  W.  &  A. 

Guttiferic. 

Garcinia  tiinorens's.  Span.    "  Mild  ignota,"  Miq. 
Mesua  ferrea,  L. 

Malvaceae. 

Malva  timoreiisis,  DC. 
Malvastruin  luderale,  Miq. 

spicatum,  A.  Gr.     (R.  Browu.) 
Sida  cistiflora,  Bl. 
javensis,  Cav. 
humilid,  W. 
subcordata.  Span. 
rliombiColio,  L.     4067,  H. 
paucifolia,  DC. 
acuta,  L.    3549,  6. 
retusi,  L.     36G5,  7. 
Abutilon  asiaticimi,  Don. 

crispum,  Don.     (R.  Brown.) 
Guichenotianum,  Dene. 
timorense,  Dene. 
indicum,  W.  A  A.    3886,  U.' 
graveoknp,  W.  &  A.     4016,  U, 
Urena  multifida,  Cav.     3669,  7 ;  E.  BrowD,  Coupang. 
Malachra  horrida,  Miq. 
Pavonia  cernua,  3Itg, 
Thespesia  Lampas,  Dah.     3438,  4010,  1. 

papidnea.' Cat>. 
Hibiscus  tiliaceus,  L.     3617,  7. 
Kosa-sinensis.  L. 
timorensis.  DC. 
virgatus,  Bl. 
tubulosus,  Cav. 
Babdariffa,  L. 
vitifulius,  L. 

suratteiisis.  L.     3817,  10  b. 
imngeus,  Eoxh.     3628,7.     3858  and  3^79,  ]0  b. 
radiatus,  Cav.  (fob  it.tegr.)     3780,  9.     3879,  iu  part,  10  b. 
ficulneus,  L.     (E.  Brown,  Coupang.) 

Sterculiacet'e. 

Heliclercs  Isorn,  L.    3420,  1.    Flanks  of  bills,  1900  ft.  clayey  soil.     3799.  9. 

Sterculia  urceolnta,  Sni.     "  Timor?" 

Abroma  fast,uos:i,  Br. 

Buettiieria  liuccida.  Span. 

Melochia  acutangula.  Span.     "  Stirps  dubia.' 

Eiedleia  tilirefolia,  DC. 

corchorifolia,  DC. 
Melhania  incana,  W.  &  A. 


IN   TIMOR.  501 


Tiliaceie. 

Gorchorus  aculangiilus,  Lam. 

olitoriu^,  L. 
Triunifetta  rotundifolia,  Lam. 

graveoleiis.  Bl.     :S705,  3908,  7. 
aiigulata,  Lam. 

pseudo-angulata, />7.     "Timor?" 
sp.     3570,  6. 
ihoniboidLa,  Jacq.     4090. 
Grewia  tomentcsi,  Juss.     "  Timor?  " 

multitlora,  Juss.     3727,  8.     ^'932,  Q, 
iuscquaViB,  Bl.     "Tiijior?" 
coluiimnris,  Sm.     3782,  9. 
Elaiocarpus  cvaneus,  Linn. 

paiviflorus.  Span. 

sp.  (cf.  E.  livularis,  VieilL).     3G77,  7. 
Malpighiacca;. 

Kvssoptery.^,  sp.  3647,  7. 

sp.  408G,  3758,  8. 
nncrostem: I,  Jhs8.     "Timor?  ' 
timoreusis,  Bl. 
Hiptage  Madablota,  Gaertu.     3917,  7. 

Zygophijllece. 

Tribulus  terrcstiis,  L.,  var.  molucc.iuus.  Bl. 

Geraniacex. 

Imputieiis  Balsamina,  L. 

hirsuta,  Steud.    (Span.) 

niiiiutifiora,  Miq.     „ 

sp.  nov.     Kew  Horb. 

platypetala,  Lindl.     3503,  3922,  between  5  and  6. 
Geranium  aifln.-,  W.  &  A.    3818,  10  b.     3500,  between  3  and  4. 
Averrboa  Cainmbola,  L. 

Bdimbi,  L.     (R.  Brown.) 
Oxflliscorniculata,L.    3488,1.     3507,6.     4027,  3958  a,  7. 

Rutacex.  : 

Zantlioxylon    alatum,   Boxh.,   var.   exstipulata.     3G53,   7.      Z.   timoriense. 

Span. 
Evodia  lotifolia,  T)C.  3G20,  7.     3851,  10  a. 

sp.  n.V     3870,  10  h. 
Miciomelum  pubescens.  Bl.     ?G12,  7.     3G97,  7. 
Tiiphasia  monopliylla,  DC. 

trifoliata,  i»a 
Glyco>mis  pentapbylla,  Culebr. 
Blurraya  exotica,  L. 

liejitaphylla.  Span. 
Cookia  punctata,  Betz. 
Clau-ena  excnvata,  Burm. 

(?)  timorenbis,  Eoem. 
Citrus  Limclta,  Bisso. 
Simaruhcx. 

Harrisonia  Brownii,  yl.  Juss. 
Brucea  glabratn,  Bene. 
Orlinacese. 

Gompbia  m:.gnolixfolia.  Span.  J         ,.  ^^jj^^,^  incognitiC,"  Miq. 
Castela  lasvigato,  Zipp.  \  o         »         a 

L'urseraccx. 

Canarium  microciirpum,  W. 
Garuga  floribunda,  Dene. 


502  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


Meliae.ess. 

Melia  CandoUci,  Jam. 
Turraja  pinnata  Span. 
Aiuoora  timorensis,  W.  &  A. 
Epichaiis  speciosa,  Juss. 

(V)  sttosa,  Span. 
Xylocarpus  grauatum,  Kaen. 

Olacineie. 

Causjera  tiinorensis,  Dciie. 

Celastrinex. 

Celastrus  stylosa,  Wall.     3829,  10  b. 
Eiionynif^us  javanicus,  Bl.     fi.  timoroiisis. 
Elffiodendron  ellipiticum,  Dene. 
Salncia  patens,  Dene.     380i,  4075,  10  b. 
Hippoeratca  paucillorn,  DC. 

V  cassiiioides,  DC. 

rigida,  Sjmh. 

Rhamnex. 

Zizyphus  celtidifolius,  DC. 
timoriensis,  DC. 
Jujuba,  Lam.     4013,  4020,  H. 
Bercliemia  pubiflora,  3Iit]. 

B.?sp.  38  ly,  3856,10  b 
Colubiina  asiatica,  Br. 
Gouaiiia  leptostachya,  DC.  ?    368  h  7. 

Ampelideai. 

Vitis  indica,  L.     "  Timor  "  ? 

cnrdnta.  Wall.  (Benrh.).     3753  bis,  8. 
adnata,  Wall.     3459,  1. 
discolor,  Dah.     3592,  7. 
(Cissus  timoriensis.  DC.) 
(     „      Isevigata,  Bl.) 
(     „      aculeata.  Span.) 
(     „      coriacea,  DC.) 
(     „      arachnoidea,  Hnssh.) 
(cf.  Cissus  irutabihs,  Bl.  ex  deser.)    4043,  10  b 
(cf.  V.  tnmentosa,  Heyne.)    3450,  34G7,  1. 
sp.     3739,  8. 
sp.     3G44,  7. 
Leca  rubra,  i?;.     3430,1.     8895,3896. 
sp.     4082. 
aequata,  L. 
gp.     3G22,  7. 
sp.     3GG2,  7. 

Sapindacex. 

I'oraetia  tomentosn,  Kurz.     )8.  cuspidata,  Bl. 

Srorododeudron  pallens,  Bl.    (Erioglossum  alliaccum,  Span.) 

Cupania  mutabilis,  Miq. 

Ratnnia  sp.     3779,  9. 

Spanoghea  ferriiginea,  Bl. 

Harpulia  cufanioides,  Roxh. 

Schleicliera  trijuga,  Jv.     4006, 1. 

Erioglossum  edule,  Bl.     8.  fraxinifolium. 

Allophylus  Cobbe,  Bl.     HG48,  7. 

Cardirsperinum  Halicacalum,  L.     3682,  4087,  7. 

Atiilaya  salicitolia,  Bl. 

Dodoiifca  angustifolia,  Bl. 


IN   TIMOR.  503 


Anacardicicex. 

Hemecarpus  longifulia,  Bl. 
Buclianania  longiFoUa,  Span. 
Mangifera  timorensis,  Bl. 

iiidica,  L. 
Spond'as  lutea,  L. 

Connamcea;. 

Connaius  Spanoghei,  Bl. 

Leguminosx. 

Tcphroi'a  timoriensis,  DC. 

ligida,  Span. 
Imligofera  corJifoliu,  Heijn.    (Wiles  and  Smith.) 

liuifoli;i, /ife^z.     o513,  between  5  and  6  ;  on  rocky  spots,  nscendinj 

to  Kaiinauk,  3500  ft. 
viscosa,  Lam. 

trifoliiita,  L.,  var.  tinn  rensis. 
Psoralea  siipulncea,  Dene. 

Gaudichaudiana,  Dene. 
Crotalaria  calycina,  Schrank,  3887,  between   10  an;1  H. 
verrucosa,  L.  3578. 
prostiata,  lioxb. 
jiincea,  L. 
Jaburni folia,  L. 

medicaginea,  L.    3153,4112,1. 
Scsbaui.i  giandiflora.     3752,  8. 

a^gyptiaca,  Bers. 
.A^schynonieiic  imlica,  L. 

palu'.a,  Bers. 
{?)  atro-piirpurca.  Span. 
Stvlosanthcs  mucronata,  IF. 
Smithia  ciliata,  Boyle.     3512,  Q.     3909,  40GS,  7. 

seiisitiva,  L. 
Zornia  angustifolirt,  Sm. 

reticulata,  A^m.  /3.  subglaudulosa. 
zevloneufeis,  Bers.    y.  gibbosa. 
diphylla,  Bers.     3499,  6. 
Dcsmodiuiu'tritloruiii,  DC.     4073,  3395  a,  7. 
pulchelluni,  Bth.     4009. 
timoriense,  DC. 
concinnuni,  DC. 

latifuliura,  DC.     /3.  Telfairii,  W.  &  A. 
gaugeticuni,  DC.     3790,  9. 
tiiquetruni.  DC.     3121,  3449. 1 ;  3450,   r 
latifolium,  DC.     3Vl,  1;  3718,  8. 
polvcarpum,  DC.     3153  (part)  1, 
Scalpe,  DC.     3990. 
sp.     4000,  4102. 
Dendrolobium  umbullatuin,  IF.  (t  A.     4011,  4023. 

ceplialotcs,  Bth. 
Uraria  lagopoide.-,  Desv.     3452,  1, 
picta,  Desv. 
crinita,  Desv. 
Psfiudartliria  viscidii,  W.  &  A. 
Lourea  vespertilionis,  Desv. 

obcordata,  Desv. 
Lcspedeza  sericea,  Miq.     3557,  Q, 
Abrus  precaforiu.s.  L. 
iJuiunsia  villosa,  DC.     3857,  3873,  10  1). 
Mueuua  gigantea,  DC. 


504  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


Canavalia  obtusifoU;i,  DC. 
virosa,  W.  &  A. 
gladiata,  DC. 
(ilyciiie  labialis,  L. 
Soju  bamata,  Miq.     "  Timor  ?  ' 
Alysicarpus  vaginabs,  DC. 

bupleurifobus.  DC. 
Jongifblius,  W.  <t  A. 
slyracifolius,  DC. 
Pliylacium  bract;,'06Hiu,  Bcnn.     33d2,  7. 
Pliateolus  lunatus,  L. 
Vigna  Catiaiig.     3G7:i,  7. 
lobata,  Eitdl. 

laiiceolata,  Benth.     3512,  3 
•Uoliilios  falcatus,  Klein.     3529,  3530,  3541,  6  ;  3810,  iO  b. 

Labial),  L      37-19,8.     "  Kiitu'' and  "Aha,"  are  the  native  uaiucs. 
Seeds  f-atcn  by  natives  alter  four  times  boiling  in  fre^h  waters. 
Cnjanus  iiulicus,  Sprencj. 
Atylesia  seaiaba30ules,  Benth. 
Siipbora  glauca,  LescJi. 
Biaehypterum  timorense,  Benth. 
Derris  uliginosa,  Benth. 

Spanogheana,  Bl. 
Pongamia  glabra.  Vent. 

Dalber^'ia  pubinervis,  Span.     "  Species  dubia,  Miq." 
Flemiiigia  strobilifera,  Br. 

lineata,  Boxh. 
Pacliyiliiziis  angulatus.  Mich.     4110. 
Khynchosia  scricea.  Span. 

medicaginea,  DC. 
Candollei.  DC. 
miniiua,  DC. 
EriostUia  chinense,  Vo(j.     3430,  1, 
Csesalpiiiia  Nuga,  Ait. 

ferruginca.  Dene. 
pulchcrrima,  Sio.     4022. 

tepiaria  Roxb.?    3793,  9.    Climber  co.c.iug  great  stretches  of 
the  forest  with  its  blight  ori'.ige  Howers. 
]Mezoneuron  glabra,  Desf. 

pubescens,  Desf. 
Cassia  luln-.osoides,  L.    (R.  Brown,  CoupangY     3473,  1  •  34S7,  2 
Fistula,  L.   3890,  10  a. 
me2:alantha.  Dene. 
exaltatj,  Reinw.     (sp.  dubia.) 
Absus,  L.     3477,  1. 

occidentalis,  L.  V     (R.  Brown,  Coupang.) 
Sophora,L.    (R.  Brown,  Conpang.)     2480,  3i;(i3,  40'.)8,  7 
Tora,  7y.     (R.  Brown,  Oai|ang.)     3G02.  7. 
timorensis,  Decne.    (R.  Brown,  Coupang.;     3719,  g. 
Bauhinia  ampin.  Span. 

racemosa.  Lam. 
Tamarindus  iiidicu.-i,  L.     3132,  1.     Native  name,  "Ru." 
acid'i,  Reinw. 

sp.  (cf.  B.  glauca,  Wall.)    R.  Brown. 
Cynometra  cauliflora,  L. 
bijuga,  Span. 
Desmanthus  trispermus,  Span.    "  Forsan  Neptunia."    Miq. 
Ac.icia  Farnesiana,  Willd.     (R.  Brown.) 
tomeiitella,  Zipp. 
quadrilater.ilis,  DC. 
All.izzia  procera,  Benth.     359.3,  7  ;  3770,  9. 


IN  TIMOR.  505 


Albizzia  lelibckoides,  Benth. 

stipularis,  i?o/i;.     3683,4038,7. 
Pithecolobium  umbcllatum,  Bth.,  0.  moniliferunj, 

?  laxilioruin,  Bth. 
Inga  petrocarpa,  Simii.  (sp.  dubia.) 

Jiosaccx. 

Rubus  rosajfolius,  Sm.    3-74,  10  b  ;  3518,  6, 
sp.  3:)02,  6;  3913,4026,  6. 
sp.  3.524,  6. 
Grangeiia  bnrbouicii,  Lam. 
Prunus  lauiifolia,  Dene. 
Eriobotiya  japonica,  Liiidl. 
Pygeum'sp.     3680,3905,7.  ^y  • 

Saxifrngacex. 

Poylosoini  iliclfolia,  Dl.     3813,  10  b, 
Cucurliitaccai. 

Tiicliosaiitbos  bracteat^i.  Vo'cjt. 
'  IMiiiiiordica  Cliar.intia,  L.     0    abbrcviata  3764,  9. 
Lulla  cyliudiica,  Roem. 

j8.  insularum,  Corjn. 
CitruUns  vulguis,  L.    (Cucuiii-s  disscctus.  Dene.) 
Coccinia  coidifoliii,  Cujn.    (C.  iudica,  W.  &  A.)    4021,  7, 

Crassuliie:!E. 

Brynpliylliiiu  calychuuu,  L.     37.!6,  6, 
Ehizopharex. 

CaiaUia  limorensis,  Bl. 
Droserae.x. 

Driwera  lunata,  nam.     3420,  1 ;  on  rocky  spots  oa  rod  clavev  soil,  2500  ft. 
N..tcomiuo:i  below  2000  ft.     3519,6. 
Cynhrefuu-.x. 

Terminal  ia  niicrocarpa,  Dene. 

Laguucularia  lutea.  Gaud. 

Myriacex. 

Eucalyptus  alba,  Bdnic.     3551,  1. 

obliqua,  limit. 
Jiimb'sa  albfi.  Humph.    5.  tininrcusis. 
tSyzygium  ubovatuni,  DC.   "  Timor  ?  " 

timoiiauum,  Dene. 
Eugenia  Sinithii,  Voir.    (Acmena  lloribu.ula,  DC.)    R.  Brown. 
Barringtonia  timorensis.  Bl. 
Planclionia  timoricnsis,  Bl.,  /3.  alata. 
Psidium  pomiferuni,  L.     3733,  8. 
Dccaspermuni  paiiifulatum,     Kurz.     3670,  7, 

sp.  3585,  7;  3859,  3838,  10  b. 
Melaslnmacex. 

INIemecylon  pauciHorum,  Bl.     3598,  7- 

Osbeckia  cliiuensis,  L     3550,  6  ;  4016,  3912. 10  b. 

TMclastoma  malabatliricum.     3506.  6  ;  3822,  3894,  10  b* 

Li/thrariae. 

SufTreuia  dicbotnmn,  Miq. 
Ha{)al('car|ium  iiidicum,  W.  (t  A 
I'onipliirt  acidulo.  Forst. 
Lnwsonia  alba,  Lam. 
Grislea  tfiuicntnsi,  7^ox/>. 

Woodfurdia  tloribunda,  Sah'»h.    3125,  1.     Common  on  tbe  lidgea  of  the  hills 
from  1500-2500  ft.  —  - 


506  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

Onagrarieai. 

Jussiaja  angustifolia,  Lam. 
sutfruticosa,  L. 
repeiis,  L. 
Samydac€ce. 

Casearia  hcxagona,  Dene. 

/3.  gelonioiJes,  Bl, 
ramiflora,  Dene. 
Paesiflorex. 

Disemma  timoriaiia,  Miq. 

Herbertiaiia,  DC. 
Modecci  jiopulifoli:!,  Zipp. 
Passifloia  moluccaua,  lU.     3702,  9. 

Cuciirhitaeex. 

Tricliosauthcs  bract^ata,  Voigt. 

Momortlica  charantia,  L.,  )3.  abbrcviata.     3764,  9. 

Lufia  cyliiulrica.  Eoem.,  fi.  insularum,  Cogn. 

CitruUus  vulgaris,  L.     (Cucnmis  disscctus,  Dene.) 

Coccinia  cordifulia,  Cogii.     (C.  indic;i,  IK  &  A.)    4021,  7. 

Melotbria  Rauwenhfffii,  Cogn.  (Zehneria  dtltoidea,  Miq.)     3457,  1. 
lietcrophylla,  Coj>.  3685,  7  ;  3G27,  7. 
madoiaspatana  Cogn.    (LJ^yonia  scabrella,  jSer.) 

Muellfmrgia  tiraorensis,  Cojn. 

GyiiostL-mma?  hcdera}folia,  Cogn.     (Sicyai  bederrerolius,  Dcm.) 

Zanonia  indica,  L. 

Alaomitra  sarcophylln,  Raem. 

tiinorana,  Eoem.     (Zanonia,  Span.)      '•  No;i  satis  nota." 
Begoniacea;. 

Mezierea  salaziensis,  Gaul.   (Diploclinium  ?  tiniarensa,  Miq.) 

Begonia  sp.     38o3,  10  b.  cp.  preceding. 

Ficoidem. 

Sesnvium  (Pyxipoma)  polyandriim,  Fcnzl. 

Glinus  lotoides,  Lo'fl. 

MoUugo  striata,  L. 

oppositifolia,  L.  3713,  7  ;  4100. 
Vmbellifcrx. 

Anethum  gravcolens,  L. 
Araliacex. 

Heptapleiiruui  \ertic;llatiim,  Miq. 

Arthronhyllum  (Nothopanax?)  pinnatum,  Miq. 

Delarbica  paradoxa,  Vieill.    3041,  4042,  7  ;  3062,  7 ;  375G.  8  ;  3839,  10  b- 

Gajioi  etaL/E,  by  W.  Fawcett,  B.  Sc,  F.L.S. 
Caprifoliaeese. 

ViBrBNUM  FoRBESii,  Fawc.  (nov.  sp.)-  3587,  3589  (part.).  Tahaolat  Mount. 
5000  ft.  between  Q  and  7 ;  4040,  4^189,  7.  Foliis  oppositis  petiolatifc 
elliptico-lanceolatis  acuminatis,  basi  acutis  integris  menibranaceis  glabris 
in  axillis  venarum  subtus  barbatis,  venis  utiinque  3-4  prominulis  ;  cyniis 
breviter  pubescentibus  fructiferis  glabre.-centibus  corymboso-unibellatis 
terminalibus  foliis  tiiplo  brevioribus,  bracteis  et  bractcolis  linearibus 
(leciduis ;  floriljus  omnibus  coiiforniibus;  calyce  breviter  pubescente, 
dentibus  5  bicvibus  inaiqualibus  integris  aut  irregulariter  dentatis; 
corolla  parva  campanulato-rotundata  glabra,  lobis  5  tubum  ajquantibus 
obtusis  ;  stylo  brevi,  stigmatibus  3-4  parum  coalitis  olitusis;  drupa  uni- 
loculata  coinpresra  elliptica;  semine  cndocarpio  conformi. 
Foliorum  laminaj  impunoratc'c  10-14  cm.,  petioli  lj-2J  cm.  Bractea?  2^-3 
mm.,  bracteolfe  1  -1 J  ra.  longaj  Corolla  2  mm.  longa.  Drupa  7  mm.  longa, 
5-6  mm.  lata. 


IN  TIMOR.  507 


This  species  appears  to  be  near  to  V.  Zippelii,  IMiq.,   V.   punctatum, 
Ham.,  but  difters  in  the  leaves  and  the  indumentum  of  the  calyx. 
Viburnum  (sp.,  aut   var.   praac.  ?)   foliis  ovato-lanceolatis   acuminatis   basi 
obtusis;  drupa  obovata  (flores  non  vidi).     3872,  10  b. 

Covipositgs. 

Vemonia  ciaerea,  Less.    4059, 1, 

var.  eriireroides.     (R.  Brown.  Coupana:.). 
var.  C  DC.  (V.  parvitlora,  Beinw.).    (R.  Brown,  Coupaug.) 
Elepliantopus  scaber,  L. 

Adenostemma  viscosum,  Forst.     'U.  Brown,  Coupang.). 
Dichrocephala  latifolia,  DC.     3o37.  400(3,  6. 
TMicroglnssa  volubilis,  DC.     3tJ21,  7. 
Bacchaiis?  arborea.  L. 

Blumca  tenella.  DC.     (Tiraor  only ;  see  note  on  Timor  species  of  Blurao;!, 
by  C.  B.  Clarke,  in  'Fl.  Brit.  Ind.'  iii.  671.) 
fasciculata,  DC.  (excl.  sp.  Bimian.). 
timorensis,  DC. 

lacinii.ta,  DC.    (B.  cichoriifolin,  DC.) 
fccssiliflora,  Decne. 
acutata,  DC. 
viminca.  DC. 
balsamifcra,  DC.    3498,  2    fii^l  at  Kilehoho,  3100-iOOO  ft.  between 

2  i^nd  3. 
Wightiuna,  DC.    (Timor,  Tcysmann ;   see  Martelli  in  '  N.  Giorn. 
Bot.  Itai.'  XV.  291).) 
Pluchea  indica.  Less. 

Splireranthus  africanus,  L.     (S.  microjephalii?,  DC.) 
Monenteles  reddens,  Lahill. 

tomentosus,  Schz.  Bip.     (R.  Brown,  Coupang.) 
Gnaplialium  hueo-album,  L.     3913,  between  2  find  3 ;  •402.'i,  6. 
Wedelia    calendulacea,    iess.      (R.    Brown,   Coupang.)       3497,    valley    of 

Erlihumauberek,  3500  ft.     April.    3848,  10  a. 
WoUastonia  molucoana,  DC.    (Wedelia,  B.  &  II.)    3928,  6  (also  specimen 
with  35G7). 
a.spcrrinia,  Decne. 
glabrata,  DC. 
Wedelia  biflora,  Ilaoli.  f.     (WoUastonia  scabriuscula,  DC.)     3507,  R. 
Bidens  pilosa,  L.    (R.  Brown,  Coupang.)    3488,  3489,  2  ;  3595,  6  ;  37u4  a,  7. 
Tagetes  patula,  L.     3559.      In  abumiance  by  the  sides  of  stream  below 

Turskain,  30U0  ft. ;  distant  from  any  habitation.     (Native  of  Mexico.) 
Chrysanthemimi  coronarium,  L.     C'ultd.;  native  of  Mediterranean  regions. 
Centipeda  orbicularis.  Lour.    3GG7,  7. 
Eraehtliites  quadridentata,  DC. 
Emilia  sonehifolia,  DC.     3443,  1 :  3493,  3955,  6. 
Senecio  appendicuiatu^,   Less,    (fide  Decaisuu ;  "endemic"  in   Mauritius, 

J.  G.  Baker.). 
Lactuca  lajvigat  i,  DC.    (Araciiim  hevig.itum,  Miq.)     370G,  7. 

liuhidcae. 

Nauclea  grandifolia,  DC. 

glandulifera,  Spatt. 
tericia.  Span. 
sp. ;  3709,  9. 
Ilymenodyctiou  timoranum,  3//V/.     (Cinchona  timorana,  Span.) 
Dentella  npen.s,  Forst.    (R.  Brown's  list,  Coupang). 
Argostemma  timorense,  lienn.    (R.  Mrown.  Coupang.) 
Oldcnlandia  pnniculala,  7j.     3797;  9.      (R.  Brown,  Coupang.) 
sp.,  tiowcrs  white.     3547.  6. 
alata,  K<in.  (pterita,  Miq.). 
Opbiorrhiza  tomentosn,  J(irJ;.     3934,  9. 

Mangos,  L.     (R.  Brown,  Coupang;  "Xama.") 


508  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

Mussaenda  frondosn,  L.    3433,  1. 

Kandia  maculata,  Span. 

Fenielia  buxitblia,  la7/i.  Var.  timorciisis,  Dtcne.  F.  buxifolia  occurs  only  in 
Mauritius  and  Kodriguez. 

Guettarda  speciosa,  L.     (K.  Browu's  list,  Cjuping.) 

Timonius  Kuniphii.  I)C ;  3G5!>,  7.     Var.  343G,  3J0ti  (with  3G4G),  1 

Knoxia  corymbosa,  Willd.     3523,  4028,  4009,  6. 

Cauthopsis  pub i flora, iV/i^.  (Endemic  mouotypicgpnus.)  A.  Cunningham,  514. 

Ixora  tinicireiisis,   JJecne.    (Pavctta  timorensis,  Miq.).     3798,  9,     4076,  7. 
(found  also  in  Australia), 
coccinea,  L.     (Sir  E.  Home,  Coupang.) 

Ixora  gracilis,  11.  Br.  mss.  (R.  Browa  aud  D.  Nelson,  Timor,  Hetb.  Banks.)  — 
Stipulis  basi  connatis  dilatato-ovatis  abrupte  et  longiter  cuspidatis,  persis- 
tentibus  ;  ibliis  glabris  petiolatis  lauceolatis  aut  ovali-lanceolatis  utrinque 
acutis  aut  apica  subacuminatis,  G-15  cm.  Jongis,  supremis  sajps  p.irvis  basi 
rotuudatis,  membranaceis,  uec  nigris  sicL'atis,  veuis  pluribus  patulis 
tenere  venulosis;  corymbis  termiualibus  gracilibus  trichotome  ramosis 
laxis,  12-16  cm.  altis,  12  cm.  latis,  pedicellis  bicvissime  pubescentibus 
corolla}  tubo  bievioribus,  bracteolis  pirvis  subulatis ;  calyce  brevissime 
pubesccnte,  dentibus  4  brevibus  triangulari-nvatis  acutis  ;  corolla  glabra, 
tubo  angusto  11-14  mm.  longo,  ladniis  4  ellipticis  acutis  8  mm.  longis; 
staniinibus  4  exsertis;  stylo  paruiu  exserto,  ram's  2  brevibus  acutis 
reflexis  ;  bacca6-7mm.  lati,  pyrenis  1  aut2.  The  flowers  are  quite  unlike 
those  of  1.  nifjricans,  as  the  tube  is  more  slender,  and  the  limb  in  bud 
is  more  than  twice  as  broad. 

Ixora  quixquifida,  R.  Br.  mss.  (D.  Nelson,  Timor,  in  Herb.  Banks.). — Stipu- 
lis basi  connatis  triangularibus  cuspidatis  deciduis  ;  foliis  glabris  breviter 
petiolatis  lanceolato-oblongis  acuminatis  basi  subobtusis  subcoriaceis, 
11-21  cm.  longis;  paniculis  termiualibus  brachiatis,  9  cm.  altis  et  latis, 
pedicellis  glabris  corollas  tubo  brevioribus,  bracteis  parvis  vix  2  cm. 
longis  ovatis  acuminatis,  bracteis  secondariis  7  mm.  longis,  bracteolis 
nullis  aut  caducis ;  calycis  glabri  dentibus  brevi?simis  aut  obsoletis; 
corolla)  fauco  barbato,  tubo  10  cm.  longo,  laciniis  5  ellipticis  acutis,.  6-7 
mm.  longis;  staminibus  5  exsertis ;  stylo  parum  exserto,  ramis  2  brevibus 
acutis. 

Pavctta  indica,  L.     3875,  7, 
longipes,  DC. 

Myonima  oviita,  Decne.     (Mturitius.) 

Morinda  citrifoiia,  L. 

Gynochtodes  coriacea,  Bl. 

Psychotria  montana,  BL    3303,  3907,  3916,  10  b. 
barbata.  Span. 
?  sp.  parviflora.  Span.  (D.  Nelson  in  Herb.  Banks). 

Chasalia  capitata,  i)C     (Mauritius;  Timor, ^(?e  Decaisne.) 

Geophila  reniformis,  G.  Von.     3715,  8. 

Psederia  footida,  L.     (R.  Brown's  list,  Coupang,  "  Tali.") 

Spermacoce  stricta,  Linn.  f.    (R.  Brown,  Coupang.)    36G6,  7. 
ocymoides,  Burm.     (R.  Brown,  Coupang.) 
hispida,  L.     (R.  Biown,  Coupang.) 

Bigelovia  sociata.  Span. 
?  puniila.  Span. 
?  angustifolia,  Span. 

Galium  rotundifolium,  L.    3861,  19  b ;  6000  feet ;  4070,  6. 
6 ;  4000  feet. 

Goodenovi'ex. 

ScsDVola  Lobelia,  L.     (R.  Brown's  list,  Coupang.; 

CampanulaeeiB. 

Sphenoclea  zeylanica,  Gsert. 

Wahlenbersia  gracilis,  DC.  On  rockv  exposed  banks,  3511  and  4048,  3; 
3914,  4065,  7. 


7^"   TIMOR.  509 


Vacciniacefe. 

Vaccinium  timoeense,  Faicc.  (nov.  sp.),— Frutes,  ramulis  petiolis  raccmis 
calycibu-que  pubescentibiis;  foliis  lirevi-petiolatis  lanccolatis  utrinquc 
acHtis  22-30  mm.  longis  iutegris  planis  coriaceis  glabris  supra  lucidis 
subtus  pallMis;  raceinis  4  cm.  lo:i-is  asillaribus  subsecimdis,  pedicellis 
6-8  mm.  longis;  calyce  2-3  mm.  loiigo,  lobis  tubi  lungitudino  acutis ; 
cornlLi  -l-G  mm.  lo;iga  tiibulari  rosea ;  filamentis  staminum  pilosis,  loculis 
antheraiura  eliijiticis  minutiss-'mis  spiinilis  tectis  dorso  muticis  in  tubulos 
breves  rectos  apice  apertrs  productis ;  disco  epigyno  pubesccnte  e.\trorsum 
sinnato:  bacca  5  mm.  longa  globosi  glabrescente  nigra.  This  species 
differs  from  T'.  elUpticnm  especially  in  the  flat  lanceolate  leaves  and 
glabrous  fruits.  "3423,  straggling"  shrub ;  rose-ci4oured  flowers:  dark 
green  fruit,  becoming  black  wlien  ripe;  1.  3586,  large  shrub;  flowers 
scarlet;  Tahaolat  Mt,  50U0  feet ;  April." 
p.  denticulatuni.  '3447,  large  bush,  flowers  rose  coloured,  on  slopes  of 
gorges.  Foliage  larger  than  in  3423,  and  margins  of  leaves  slightly 
denticulate ;  1," 

Eiyacrideas. 

Leixopogox  obovatus,  Faii-c.  (nov.  sp.),— Frutex  ercclus,  ramulis  pubes 
centibus ;  foliis  confertis  erecto-imbricatis  sessilibus  obovato-lanceolatis 
acutis,  niucrone  rigido  tc-rminatis,  planis  srepe  snbconcavis,  15  mm.  longis, 
3  mm.  latis;  pedunculis  axillaribus  brevissimis  1-  ant  2-floris ;  braeteis 
minimis;  bracteolis  latis  obtusis,  calyce  dimidio  brevioribus ;  calyeis 
laciniis  latis  obtusis  mucronatis  ciliolatis  2J  mm.  longis  ;  corolla  calycibus 
longiore,  lobis  acutis;  stamiiubu^  fauci  afli.\is,  antherij  obtusis;  ovaric 
5-loculari;  drupa  1-  aut  2doculari  subglobosa  calycibus  longiore,  disco 
hypogyno  subcouvexo  sublobato  coronata.  Tiiis  species  resembles  L. 
ruscifolius,  L.  nioluccanum,  L.  lancifoJhts,  and  L.  javankus,  but  differs  in 
several  particulars,  such  as  shape  of  leaves,  sepals,  and  fruit.  3493  a. 
On  top  of  Tehulah,  4000  feet ;  April ;  fruit  grceu. 

I'lumbaginece. 

Plumbago  zeylanica,  L.    8778,  3778  a,  9.   (E.  Brown's  list,  Coupang,  "  Akur 
hicca.") 
rrimulacex. 

Lysimachia  decurrens,  Forst.  3501,  6.  Iq  t^'is  specimen  tlie  stamens  are 
not  so  long  as  the  oblong  corolla  tubes ;  but  this  may  be  due  to  di- 
morphism. 

Myrsinem 

]Ma>sa  indica,  A.  DC. ;  3G13,  7.  Yar.  Wiglitiana,  A.  DC.  (leg.  Spanoghe,  fide 
Scheffer). 

M^SA  ruLCHELLA,  Fcurc.  (nov.  ep.),— Foliis  petiolatis  glabris  lajvigatis 
nitidis  integris  aut  glanduloie  remote  .serratis,  lanceolatis  utrinque  acutis 
chartaceis ;  racemis  basi  ramosis  axillaribus  et  terminalibus  lolio  sub- 
lougioribus  glabris;  pedicellis  florem  a-quantibus;  braeteis  lanceolatis 
acuminatie,  pedicelli  triplo  brevioribus  ;  bracteolis  ovato-lanceolntis 
ciliolatis  c.dyce  multo  brevioribus;  floribus  pentameris;  calyeis  laciniis 
triangularibus  ciliolatis ;  corolla  calyce  dujilo  longiore,  laciniis  ovato- 
rotundatis;   ovarium  fere  inferum. 

Folia  10-13  cm.  longa,  3-4  cm.  lata  vcnis  primariis  utrinque  4-5,  secundariis 
obscuris.     355G,  35G'),  6  ;  3573,  river  banks,  6;  4103,  8. 

Majga  verrucosa,  Scheff.     37G3,  small  tree.  9. 

leucocarpa,  Bl.  ("Timor?  prope  IMallathoi,  Keinwardt,"  Scheffer). 

Ardisia  Spanoghei,  Scheff.  (Spanoghe). 

fiangulrelifolia,  Scheff.  Zipp.  niss. ;  log.  Zipp.  ct  Span.) 

Ebcnai-ew. 

Diospyros  timoriana,  Miq. 

montana,  linxb.,  vnr.  cordifolia,  Hiem 
mantima,  Bl. 

34 


510  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

Oleacesr.. 

Jasminnm  Samliac,  Ait.    A.  Cuiining-linni. 

siiiiplicifoliuni.  I'orst.     It.  iiiowii. 
pubescens,  Willd.     A.  Cuuningham. 
Chionauthus  montaua,  Bl. 

timorensis,  Bl. 
Noronhia  emarginata,  Pet.  Th. 
Nyctaiithcs  aibor-trislis,  L.     (R.  Browu,  Coiipang.) 

Apocijimcefe. 

Melodixis  FoRBESii,  Fiiicc.  (nov.  sp.), — Foliis  ovato-lanceolatis  basi  lotun- 
datis  bivviter  petiolatis  glainis  supra  nitidis  pergaraaceis ;  cyiiiis  terinina- 
libus  f.lio  multo  brevionbus  multifloris  coarctitis,  ramis  pedicellisque 
incan-suVjvelutiiiis  glabrescentibns  bracteatis,  peilicellis  calyce  bievioiibus, 
"  fioribus  albis  fragrantibus,"  (H^O.F.) ;  lobis  calycinis  ovatis  obtusis  glnbris 
ciliatis;  corolla  extus  siibvelutina,  tubo  tereti  intus  supra  stamina  dense 
velutino,  limbi  laciniis  oblique  obovato-rotuudatis  ]iaree  et  brevissime  pilosis, 
fauee  iiispid's,  squaiuis  10  linearibus  acutis  glabris  supeine  libeiis  interne 
decurrentibus ;  staniinibus  ad  medium  tubum  inclusis,  tilamentis  anthera 
duplo  breviiiribus ;  ovario  supra  La-iin  uniccUidari,  stigmatis  apiculo  bifido. 
Folia  12-14  cui.  longa,  3|-4  cm.  lata,  peiioli  5-6  mm.  longi.  CoioUa) 
tubus  10  mm.,  limbus  U  mm.  longus.  370S,  7,  Tliis  species  comes  near 
to  M.  Cumhujii,  but  tiie  llowers  ara  smaller,  the  stamens  placed  higher 
up  in  the  tube,  and  the  apex  of  the  stigma  is  bifid ;  the  ovary  is  only 
partially  two-celled. 
Melodinus  terminalis,  l^pan.  (unde.cribed;  perl.aps  the  tame  as  the  species 

described  above). 
Cari-sa  Carantlas,  L. 

Rauwolfia  sumatraua,  Jacl:,  var.  longifolia,  Bl. 
Alyxia  Spanogheana,  Miq. 
Tabernremontana  orientalis,  Ti.  Br.     3781,  9. 
Tallaris  Pergidana.  Burm. 
Par.-onsia  spiralis.  Wall. 
Cerbera  Odallam,  Giert. 
Wrigl.tia  pubesccns,  It.  Br. 

calyeina,  A.  DC.  var.  y.  Miq. 
tiuctoria,  Bl. 
timorensis,  Miq. 
Spanogheana,  Miq. 
Alstonia  seholaris,  B.  Br. 
speclabilis,  B.  Br. 
niacrophylLi,  Wall. 
sericea,  Bl. 
Anodendron  paniculatum,  A.  DC. 

Plumeria  acutifolia,  Poir.     (R.  Brown's  list,  Coupang,  "  Bouge  tonke.") 
Vinca  rosea,  Willd.    ("  In  hortis,"  Spanoghe).  Abundant  in  river  beds  below 
Kalakuk. 

Asclepiadeie. 

Cryqitolepis  laxiflora,  Bl. 
Secamone  micrantha,  Decne. 

timorensis,  Decne. 
Calotropis  gigantea.  Br.    (R.  Brown's  list  Coupang, "  Daun  susu.") 
Tylophora  crassifolia,  Di'cne.     (Zipp.  mros.) 

villosa.  Bl.  {fide  Zippel). 

cuspidata,  Decne.     (Zijip.  niss.) 
Marsdenia  teuacissima,  Wiijld  &  Am. 
Ftrgularia  odoratissima,  Sm. 

bifida,  Decne,  (ZipjJ.  mss.) 

tomentosa,  Span.     (P.  crocca,  Zipp.  mss.) 
Dregea  volubiiis,  Be)dh. 
Gymnema  syringajfolia,  Benth. 


IX   TIMOB.  511 


Gymnema  albidum,  Decne. 
Discbidia  orbicularis,  Decne. 
timorensis,  Decne. 
Hoya  laurifuba,  Decne. 

Cekopegia  OBTrsiLOBA,  Fmcc.  (nov.  sp.), — Tulubilis,  glabra ;  foliis  ovatis 
attenuato-acuminatis  b.isi  rotundatis  mcmbranaceis  ciliolatis  siibrepamlo 
dentntis,  lamina  5-7  cm.  longa,  peti'jlo  1-2  cm.  longo ;  pedunculis  foliis 
dimidio  brevioribus,  floribus  3-7  pcdicellatis ;  calycis  laciniis  subulato- 
acumimatis  •2-'2|  mm.  loiigis  ;  corollis  I5-2V  cm.  loiigi.s,  tuho  intus  circa 
.'-taminx  piloso;  coronaj  lobis  exterioribus  10  brevihus  obtusis  pilosis 
interioribus  5  longi.i  linearibus  bubspathulati^.  "jSOI,  iiowers  dark  reddish- 
brown;  9. 
Lo^jciniacex. 

Buddleia  asiatica.  Lnur.    372.3,  8. 

Stryclnios  ligustrina,  Bl. 

Mitrasacme  pygmaja,  Br.     3492,  3  ;  3884,  10  fc. 

trinorvis,  Span.     Probably  same  as  M.  pygmxa. 
Gcniostoma  montaiiiim,  ZoU.  &  Mor.  "3552,  6;  3616,  3654,  3947,  7. 
BoraginecB. 

Touruefortia  argentca,  L.  f.     (Spannglie,  R.  Brown's  list,  Coupang.) 

Faimcnfosa.  Lawk.     3835,  10  b 
C'ordia  subcord  tti,  Laml:     (Wiles  and  Smith,  Coupang.) 
tricliostemon,  DC. 

Bubpiibcscen.-;,  Decne.    ("  Kanoena,"  Spanoglie.) 
Ehretia  laurifolia,  Decne. 
timorensis,  Decne. 
buxifolia,  Bo.rh. 
Heliotropium  indicum,  L.     (U.  Ijiown's  list,  Coupang,  "  Dauu  futer.") 
Convolfulacex. 

Argyreia  Reinwardliana.  Miq. 

Guichcuntii,  CJioi-^. 
Lettso:nia  setosa,  Bo.r:b. 

Ipomooa  boua-nox,  L.     (R.  Brown's  list,  Coupang.) 
graiidiflorii.  Lanih.     3773,  9. 
capillata.  Span. 

aquatica,  Forsh.  (5.  rcplans.  Voir.,  R.  Brown's  list,  Coupang.) 
leniformis,  Ch<.u. 
iingustifolia.  Jacq.    3751,  Q. 
chryseides,  Ker. 

Irichocalyx,  Slend.     (?  R.  Brown,  Coupang. 
obscura,  Ker.     4004,  1. 
sepiaria,  Ko'n. 
campanulata,  L. 
oym  sa,  Boem. 
petaluidca,  ChoiK. 

pos-ciiprnp.  Sic.    (R.  Brown's  list,  Coupang.) 
vitifolia,  Sw. 
pumihi.  Span. 
tligitata,  L. 

Quamnclit.  L.     3871,  10  b. 
repanda,  Jarq.     (Wiles  and  Smith.  Coupang.) 
lederacca,  Jacq.     377G,  9  ;    4105,  1 ;  4108,  9,     (R.  Brown,  Cou- 
pang.) 
Hewittia  b:color,  Wiijhf. 
Convolvulus  jtarvilliirus,  Valil. 
Poraiia  vohibilis,  Burm. 

racemo.sa,  Boxh.     4104,  1, 
Evolvulus  nlsinoiiles,  L. 
Cuscuta  refli'xa,  Boxh. 

mo:iogyiia,  VaJil. 


512  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

Solanacex. 

Lycopcrsicum    esculentuni,    Blill.      (R,    Brown's  list,    Conpang,   "Mattoo 

mattee.") 
Solanuni  aviculare,  Forst. 

dianthophorum,  Dim 

homduni,  Dun. 

violaceum,  Br. 

verbascifoliuni,  L.     3023,  7  ;  3808,  10  b  ;  4036,  7, 

nigrum,  L.     3785,  9  ;  382G,  3881,  10  b. 

indicum,  L.     3841,  10  b. 

bnrbisetum,  Nees.  ?    3U34,  7  ;  4008,  8  ;  409G,  10. 

Melongena,   L.    3786,    9 ;  4091,  1 ;    flowers  small,   8   lines   iu 

diameter;  fruit,  1  inch, 
torvum,  Sin.     3806,  10  b. 
detiticulatum,  lil.     3tC4, 1, 
Capsicum  fiutescens,  L.     Spaiioghe. 

minimum,  Boxh. 
Xicotiana  suaveolens,  Lthm. 

Tabacum,  L.    H.O.F.   No  number. 
Physalis  minima,  L. 
Datura  Metel,  L. 

fnstu'-sa,  L.     3759,  9  ;  4001,  9. 

Scroplmlarineie. 

Mazus  Isevifolius,  Bl. 
gratissima,  BL 
Herpestis  floribunda,  Br. 

Monniera,  H.B.K. 
Bonnaya  brachiata,  Linlc  &  Otto. 
veronicaitblia,  Spreng. 
Buchnera  arguta,  Decne. 

ramosifsima,  J?.  Br. 

tomentosn,  5/.  3805,3811,101).  (II.  Brown,  Coupang.; 
a&perata,  R.  Br. 
Buchnera  tisioreksis,  Fence,  (nov.  sp.), — Pubesoenf,  caule  crecto  simplici 
10-23  cm.  alto  ;  loliis  oppositis  integris,  radicalibus  et  iiifimis  subrosulatis 
obovatis  8-16  mm.  longis,  caulinis  oblongis  et  fcuperne  liiiearibus;  spici 
inten-upta;  bracteis  2-2^  mm.  longis,  lanceolatis  acuminatis  pubescentibus 
calyce  plus  din.idio  brevioribus ;  calyce  fructitcro  4-5  mm.  loiign,  2  mm. 
lato,  pubescente,  dentibu.s  bre%ibus  lanceolatis ;  corolla  glabr.i  1-lf  cm. 
longa,  tubo  calyce  duplo  longiore ;  rapsulis  vix  exserlis.  This  species 
diflers  from  itb  nearest  Au.'-tialian  allies,  and  also  from  B.  anjnta,  in  the 
large  ccroUa  combined  with  small  leaves  and  low  simple  stem.  3191;. 
floweis  pink;  among  grass  on  top  of  Kilehoho ;  between  2  "ud  3,  tit  4600 
feet. 
BvcHNERA  EXSERTA.  I'oKT.  (nov.  sp.). — Seabro-pubosccn.s,  caulc  erecto  ramoso 
7^-9  dm.  alto;  (obis  alternis,  su[i(riorilius  suboppositis  lauccolato-oblongis 
obtusis  integiis  ant  lepando-dentatis;  spica  multillora  interrupt;!  ; 
■bra<teis  ovato-lanceo!atis  scabris,  calyce  dimidio  brevioribu.s,  intimis 
ssepe  longioiibus;  calyce  fructiiero  4-5  mm.  longo,  2  mm.  lato,  pubescenti- 
Ecabro,  dentibus  brevibus  triangularibus  acut.s ;  c  oroUa  glabra  calycibus 
diiplo longiore;  cap^idis  longeexsertis.  This  species  is  remarkable  for  its 
long  capsule.  3811.  bs.  10  b.  (R-  Brown,  Coupang.) 
Striga  [-^panogheaTia,  Miq. 

par\ifl()ra,  Benth.     (R.   Brown,   Coupang.)     3737  ;    flowers    bluish- 
purple,  8. 
multiflora,  Benth.     (R.  Brown,  Coupang.) 
Torenia  minuta,  Bl.     3-1  S3,  1 ;  3950.  7. 

peduncularis,  Benth.  3440,  4058,  1,  The  flowers  are  somewhat 
smaller  than  in  the  description  iu  'Fl.  Brit.  Ind.,'  the  lower  stamens 
are  longer  and  the  upper  shorter  than  in  plate  4229,  Bot.  Mag. 


7.V   TIMOR  bVi 


Scopiiria  dulcis,  L.     4109. 
Sopubia  trifida,  Ham.    3555,  6. 

Gcsneracex. 

Rhyncoglossuni  obliquuin,  Bl. 

Epithema  Brunouis,  Decne. 
(liftbniie,  S)Kin. 

Cyrtaxdra  SEraiATA,  Faicc.  (nov.  sp.), "  Arbiiscula  "  (PI.  O.  F.). — Foliis  serra- 
tis  late  laiiceolatis  utrinque  attcnuatis  subiiiasqnalibus  glabris,  majoiibus 
2  dm.  longis,  45  inm.  latis,  nervis  obscure  pubescentibiis  primariis  lateruli- 
bus  utrinque  S-10,  petiolis  15-20  mm.;  pedunculis  0-5  mm. ;  bracteis 
(?  caducis; ;  pediccllis  "i-H,  2  cm.  longis,  umbellatim  ortis;  oalyce  fructifern 
t5-8  mm.  Inugo,  5-fi.lo,  campanulato,  glabro,  lobis  4  mm.  lougis  lanceulati.s 
acuminatis ;  corolla  .  .  .;  ovario  .  .  .;  disco  annulari;  baec  i  ellipsoidea. 
Appiirently  near  to  C.  cuneata,  but  ditiers  in  being  glabrous,  in  the  s  rr.'te 
long-petiofed  kaves,  and  the  short  peduncles.     3SGS,  3883,  10  b. 

Bignoniacea;. 

Millingtonia  hortcnsis,  L.  f. 
Dolichaudrone  Rlieedii,  Seem. 
Colea  ramitlora,  I)C. 

Fedallnex. 

Joseph inia  Imperatricis,  Vent. 

Sesamum  indicum,  DC.      R.  Urown,  C'oupang,  "  Lena.") 

M-.irtynia  diandra,  Glox.    3154,  and  4052,  1.     (Mexico.) 

Acantliacex. 

Thunbergia  fragrans,  Boxh.     (R.  Brown,  and  Smith  and  Wiles,  Coupaug.) 
fragraiis,  var.  lajvis,  C.  B.  Clarice.    3783,  9 ;  3852, 10  a  ;  i  '-^^J.  1 
hastata,  Decne. 
Nomapliila  petiolatM.  Decne. 

Sautieia  Decaisnii,  Nees.  (mouotypic  endemic  gjnus).   A.  Cunuingham,  320 
Ruellia  idrsuta,  Nees. 

Decaisniana,  Nees. 

prostrata.  Lam.,  var.  dejecta,  C.  B.  CI. 
Strobilauthes  timorensis,  Nees. 

aspera,  Decne.    A.  Cunnhigham. 
Barleria  Piionitis,  L. 
Lepidagathis  humit'usa,  Decne. 
javanica,  Bl. 
rcpens,  Decne. 
Justicia  Gendarussa,  L.f.     3774,  9. 

procumbens,  L.     3986.  2  *,  3528,  6  ;  3601,  7. 
Eranthemum  bicolor,  Schr.     (R.  Brown,  and  Smith  and  Wiles,  Coupaug.) 
Dicliptera  glabra,  Decne.    A.  Cunningham, 
eriautha,  Decne. 
spicata,  Decne. 
Burmanni,  Nees. 
Peristroplie  albitiora.  Hassle. 
Hypoesks  rosea,  Decne. 

Asy stasia  cheloiioides,  Nees.  (R.  Brown,  Coupang.) 
coiomandeliana,  Nees.  4083,  8  ;  4047,  7. 
DiANiHERA  TEiiMiXALis,  Faivc.  (nov.  Sp.). — Caulc  debili,  iuferne  decumbcnte  ; 
foliio  longe  petiolatis,  lanceolatis,  utrinque  acuminatis,  srepo  basi  rotun- 
dati--',  supra  paucissinds  jili.-',  infra  ntrvis  pnbescentibus,  majoribrs  cum 
petiolo  15  em.  longis  4  cm.  latis,  supeiiorilnn  subsessiiibua  '2k-5  em. 
longis ;  pnnienlis  terminalibus  pubescentibus  5-25  cm.  lung's,  ramis 
oppositis  dich'itomis,  pedicellis  brevissiiuis  fHifornubus;  bracti  is  et  brac- 
teolis  minutis,  subulatis;  calyce  5-jiartito,  laciidis  nciiualibus  subulatis, 
brevifer  glanduloso-pubescente ;  corolla  1cm.  longn,  tulm  rectu;  labio 
superiore  bitido;  staminibus  2  ad  medium  tubum  corolhe  artixis,  uou  ultra 
suinmum  tubum  attingentibu*,  fi'amcntis  tHiformibus ;  disco  annulari ; 


514  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


capsula  oblnnga  apice  acuta  tetraspemm.  3814,  10  a;  3821,  4030,  10  b; 
var.  granrlijlora,  corolla  li  cm.  lotigo,  tubo  arapliato;  paniculo  glanduloso- 
pubesceiite.     Zollinger,  No.  2951,  Java. 

Virhenacese. 

PfiTEiEA  AKBOREA,  Kuntli.,  8mitb  and  AViles. — Xo  species  cf  this  tropical 
American  genus  has  hitherto  been  recorded  as  spontaneous  in  the  Old 
"World,  but  Mr.  Forbes  has  also  met  with  it  in  Java  in  an  undoubtedly 
wild  state,  and  in  great  (denty  (see  p.  78).  It  is  not  at  all  improbnble  that 
it  will  he  met  witli  in  other  localities.  A  nearly  allied  genus  lias  lately 
been  described  by  Prof.  Oliver  in  Ic.  Plant.  (PI.  1420),  namely  Petra^ovitex. 
The  only  species  of  this  genus  known,  P.  Eiedeln,  was  obtaino<l  a  short 
time  ago  by  Mr.  Eiedol's  collectors  in  the  island  of  Bnru ;  but  it  is 
reported  from  AmboLna  by  Rumphius  (Vol.  v.,  p.  4,  t.  3)  in  1747  imder  the 
name  Funis  cpiadrifidus,  and  specimens  in  fruit  exist  in  Brit.  j\lus.  Herb., 
collected  by  Christopher  Smitli  in  1798  in  Honiinoa  or  Saparun,  an 
island  near  Amboiiia. 
Vitex  trifolia,  L.,  var.  unifuli:;ta.  3720.  3. 
pube=cens,  Vahl.  405G,  1, 

Negundo,  L.     (R.  Brown,  Coupang,  "Lagoundi.") 
timoriensis,  TT"o/2^.    A.  Cunningham. 
Cr.KEODENDnoN  pvi.CHRUM,  Faicc.  (nov.  sp.), — R miulis,  panicnlir",  ct  petiolis 
brevissime    tomentosis ;    foliis   longe   petiolatis  cordatis   ovato-iotundatis 
acuiniuatis  integris  repaudo-sinuatis,  subtus  .>-tiigoso-hirtellis,  s-upr.i  pajne 
glabris,  majoribus  cum  petio'.o  24-30  cm.  longis;  panicula  terminuli  corym- 
bo.sa  ;  calycibus  8  mm.  longis  glaliris,  fiuctiferis  non  aucti-,  lobis  5  mm. 
longis,  lauceolatis;  corollis  '•coralliiii.s,"  (H.  O.  F.)  glabri.s,  tnbo  25  mm, 
longo;  staminibus  longe  exsertis;  drupa  gbibosa  4-snlcata  tenuitr-r  .sufcosa, 
pyrenibus  4  per  paria  cohserentibus.    Tliis  is  a  well-mark*  d  species,  with  its 
large  deeply  cordate  haves,  tiie  long-tubed  corolla,  and  calyx  not  enlarged 
ill  fruit.     3601,  7;  3000  ft.;  April. 
Clerodeudron  inerme,  Gxrtn. 

longitlorura,  JJecne. 
Callicarpa  cana,  L.     (H.  Brown,  Coup:mg  ;  C.  s-p.  in  list,  "  Cadia  Bousson.") 
pedimculata,  II.  Br.     3UJ5,  1, 
sumatraua,  Miq.  ?  St'Ol,  7, 
Premna  timoriana,  Decne. 
corymbosa,  Itottl. 

sp.     3611.  :^.638,  2892,  41-88  ;  tree  ;  fruit  becoming  black,  7. 
Tectona  grnndis,  Linn.f.     (R.  Biown's  list,  Coupang,  "  Jdatti.") 
Lippia  noditlora,  Rich.     (R.  Brown's  list,  Coupang.) 

Lahiatx. 

Ocimum  Basiiicum,  L.    (R.  Brown.  Coupang.) 

sanctum,  L.     (R.  J5rown,  Coupang.) 
IMoschosma  polystachvnm,  Bentli. 

Plectranthus  parvifl  .rus,  Willd.  (P.  austrnlis,  R.  Br.  .  38S8,  let  ween  10-]1. 
Coleus  grandifolius,  Benth. 

scutellariuides,  Benth.     (R.  Brown,  Coupang,  "  Bouug.i  timta.'} 
socundiHorus.  Benth. 
Hyptis  brevipts,  Poit.     3563. 
Calamintha  mohiccana,  Miq. 

Scutellaria  heteiopoda,  3//(/.      3129.     Leaves  spread  out  on  surface  of  gromid. 
flowers  deep  cobalt  blue.     On  ridges  and  crevices  exposed  to  sun  on  red 
clayey  soil ;  1 ;  3533,  R. 
Anisomeles  c;UMicans,  Benin. 

ovata,  R.  Br.     (U.  Brown,  Coupang.) 
salviifolia,  R.  Br. 
Leucas  procumbens,  -Des/. 

dtcemdeudata,   Sni.     (Gaudichaud;   R.   Brown,   Coupang,  "Kappa 

Ma.") 
javanica,  Bcntli.  (?  chincnsis,  Span.,  Timor). 


IN  TIMOR.  515 


Teucriura  viscidum,  IM.  (Ja^n.) 

^.  densiflora,  Miq.  (Timor.) 
Cymaria  aciiiniuata,  Decne. 


Apetal.i;,  by  "W.  Fawcett,  B.  Sc,  F.L.S. 
Ifijdarjinex. 

Mirabilis  Jakpa,  L.     CTi.  Brown's  list,  "  Bounga  mattaii.'') 
Boerhaavia  repamia.  Tl'.     (R.  Brown,  Coupan^.     Tills  may  be  the  species 
denote  1  in  liis  list,  as  B.  tetran  Ira,  "  Lei  lidi. ') 
dit!usa,  L.     4033,  9. 
a.  obtusiloba,  Choi's. 

/3.  acutifolia,  Clwis.     (C.  Brown,  Coupang.) 
y.  pubescens,  Chois.    (B.  glutinosa,  Vahl.) 
Pisonia  excelsa,  Bl. 

Amarantacefe. 

Deeringia  baccata, -l/oj.    (D.  celosioides,  R.  Br.)    3j5G,  7,  -1012,  1. 
Cclosia  cristata,  Moq. 
argenlca,  L. 
Amarantus  spinosus,  L.     (R.  Brown's  list,  Coupang.     '•  Wajang.')      3455; 
34G6,  3930. 
niangoatanns,  L. 
oleiaceus,  L. 

polygamus,  Miq.     (R.  Brown's  list,  Coupang.      A.  sp.,  "  Sayal 
Badjang.") 
Ptilotus  corymbosus,  R.  Br.     'J  imor? 

Pupalia   laj^pacea,  Moq.     (R.    Brown's  list,  Coupang,   "  Boung.i  Makrili " 
and  "  Suioro.")     3775  ;  9. 
atropnrpurea.  Moq. 
/3.  pallida,  Moq. 
iErua  sanguinolenta,  B'. 

tiinorensis,  Moq. 
Achyianthes  tomfiitflla.  Zipp. 

as-pera.  L.    (R.  l5rown's  list,  Coupang, "  Susoro  "  an. I  "  Kakai.") 
Altornantheia  noditloia,  R.Br. 
Gomplirenu  globcsa,  L. 

Chenoiwdiacese. 

Arthrocneniiira  fruticoauni,  Moq. 

indiouin,  Moq. 
SaL-f)la  austral  is,  R.  Br. 

bracliypteris,  Moq. 

Fohjgohacese. 

Polygonum  1  arbatum,  L.     3572,  6  ;  also  with  3532. 

ohinerise,  L.     3.i32,  between  5  and  Q,    Turksaia  river,  3000  ft. 
flacfidnm,  Roxh. 
Runicx  nopalensis,  Spr.,  var.  3539. 

Ar^sMocldaceie. 

Aristolocbia  timorensis,  Decne. 

Viperacece. 

Piper  subpeltatiun,  Wilhl.     3901.  3G57,  7.     The  natives  eat  the  leaves 
instead  of  the  ordinary  siri. 
Betle.  L. 

officinarnm,  C.  DC. 
arborescens,  Roxh.     3698  ;  V. 
arcuatum,  Bl,  with  3854  ;  10  b. 
Feperomia  tonieutosa,  A.  Didr.     3755;  in  clefts  of  rocks,  8 


516  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDEBINGS 

Laurinese. 

Litsea  timoriana,  Siyan.     (Tetranthera  discolor,  Bl.) 
sebifera,  Pers,  (Tetrantliera  lauril'olia,  Jdcq.) 

6.  platvphjlla,  BL,  2124,  ^,  1 ;  3636,8891,  4074,  9,  large  tree,  7. 
(Cvlicodipiiue)  diversifolin,  BL     3605,  3605  a,  3673,  4035,  7'  3815, 
3853,  10  b. 
lUigera  dubia,  Spun. 
Cassytha  pubcscens,  i?.  Br. 
Cinnumomuia  ?    3655,  7. 

Thijmtleacese. 

PiMELEA  hreviti  BA,  Fdtcc.  (iiov.  sp.),— Ileibacca  t recta,  annua  (?),  glabr.i, 
seraipedalis;  fuliis  subspathulalis  oppositis  alteinisve  ;  invohicris  gamo- 
phyllis  turbinatis  4-5  mm.  latis,  lobij  4  oviJibus  obtusis  G  10  mm.  longis, 
tubo  2-4  mm.  iongo ;  Horiiius  liermapbroditis  albis ;  pedicellis  brevibus 
comprcisis  ad  medium  tubuin  affixis  ;  perianthiis  involucii  lobo  brevioribus 
aut  longioribus,  tubo  6-7  mm.  Iongo,  angusto,  post  anthesin  supra 
ovarium  ciicumscisso,  lobis  obtusis  l|-2  mm.  longis ;  S'taminibus  1|  mm. 
longis,  conneclivo  angusto;  oxocarpio  membranaceo ;  scminis  superficie 
nigra  reticulat  1,  albamine  parcu  ;  imbryouirf  cotyledonibus  ovalibus,  1  ni. 
longis. 

This  species  dift'irs  fiom  its  nearest  allies  in  the  involucre  aa  ■well  as, 
in  other  respects,  e.f/.,  from  P.  cornucopim,  Vaiil.  and  P.  punicea,  R.  13r. 
ill  the  s!:ort peduncle  ani  general  habit;  from  F.  concreta,  F.  Jluell,  in  the 
filaments ;  and  from  P.  sanguinea,  F.  IMuell,  in  the  peiianth.  It  is  the  only 
one  at  present  described  as  occurring  beyond  the  limits  of  Australia  and 
New  Zealand.  There  is  a  small  specimen  in  the  Br.  JIus.  Herb.,  collected 
on  the  island  of  Savu,  near  Timnr,  by  Banks  and  Solander,  which  is 
very  like  this  species  in  habit,  but  tlitfers  in  the  involucre,  ■which  is  more 
hkethntoHP.  jnmiceff,  R.  Br.     3S2S  ;  flowers  white ;  in  grass.     10  b. 

Wikstrcemia  Spano^diii,  Deciie. 

Drymisperuium  laurifoliura,  Decne.     4050,  9. 

Eleagnacese. 

Eleagnus  ferruginea,  Bicli.'^  3570;  flowers  dirty  white  dotted  with  rusty 
red,  6. 

LorantliacesR. 

Viscum  orientale.  W. 

articulatnm.  Barm.,  v.  timoriense,  DC. 
Loranthus  longiflorus,  Desr.     3844,  flowers  scarlet.     10  b. 
cbovatus,  BL,  vur.  minor  (R.  Brown,  Coupang.) 
indicus,  T)esr. 
triflorus,  Span. 

pendulus,  Sieh.     3543  ;  parasitic  on  3544  ;  purple  calyx,  purple 
anther-tips  in  bud;  Q, 

Euphorbiaccas. 

Daphnipliyllum  Zollinger!,  MueU.  Arg.  ?     3807,  3803,  3882,  tree,  10  b. 
Dodecastemon  Teytmimni,  0.  timorensis,  Miq. 
Bridelia  ovata,  Decne. 
Andrachne  fruticosa,  Decne. 

Phyllanthus  Casticum,  il/MeZZ.  Arg.   var.     3642,  small  tree,  7;    ^'^^-  fasci- 
culatus. 
reticulatu.s,  Poir. 

/3.  glaber,  MuelL  Arg. 
maderaspatensis,  L. 

Niruri,  L.     "  Taou.'  (R.  Brown's  list,  Coupang.) 
Urinaria,  L.     3936. 

distichus,  MuelL  Arg.     "  Sala  melee."    (R.  Brown's  list,  Cou- 
pang.) 
nodiflora,  MueU.  Arg. 


IX  TIMOR.  ol7 

Phyllanthus  obliqiius,  Muell.  Arg. 

spp.  3802,  3S3i. 
Breynia  cernua,  Muell.  Arri. 

oblongifolia,  Mue'U.  Arrj.     (A,  Cuuuiiigbam,  317.) 
sp.  3652. 
Croton  caudatus;  o.  dcnticulatus,  MutU.  Arg. 
Codiffium  nioluccanum,  Decne. 
Claoxylon  iridiciim,  Uasislc. 
Ce])lia"locroton  discolor ;  /3.  vireiis,  Mudl.  Arg. 
Gelnnium  gloinerulatuin,  Husfh. 
Mallotas  moluccmus,  DC.     3745,  8.     (R-  Brown,  Coupang.) 

ricinoides,  Muell.  Arg.     3658  ;  young  foliage,  lake-scarlet,  7. 
repandus,  var.  scalirifblius,  Muell.  Arg. 
scandens,  Muell.  A  rg.    (Spanoghe,  Coupang.) 
Piiiiippinensis,  Muell.  Arg.    37(!6,  9. 
lilifefolius,  Muell.  Arg.     (R.  Brown,  Cjupaug.) 
iiniricatus,  Muell.  Arg. 
JMacaranga  Tanaiius,  Mnell.  Arg. 
Acalypba  integiifolia,  W.    (R.  Brown's  list,  Coupang.     A.  sp.  "  Tataka.") 

bracliystacb5-a.  Hornem.     3574:,  6. 
Alchomea  javensis,  3Iuell.  Arg. 
Cleidion  javanicuui,  Bl. 
Excoecaria  Agalloclia,  L. 
Antidcsma  pamculatuni,  ]3l. 
Stillingia  SL-bifera,  Michx.  3G50,  7. 
Eupliorbia  Ijevis,  Poir. 

serrulata,  Eeinic. 

ncriifolia,  L.    (R.  Brown's  list.  Coupang,  "Laous.') 
ccngenera,  Bl. 
thyraifolii,  Burm. 
Ricinus  coainuinis,  L.     (R.  Brown's  list,  Coupang,  •'  Dammar  Eude.") 
Jatropha  Curcas.     (R.  Brown's  list,  Coupang,  "  Dammar.") 

TJrticacem. 

Sponia  timorensis,  Decne.    3720 ;  Q. 

amboinensis.  Deem.     3938,  3935,  9  ;  8723,  8, 
Celtis  timorensis.  Span. 
Fleurya  cordata,  Gamlich. 

intL-rrupta.  Gaudich.     (R.  Brown,  Coupang.) 
Laportea  peltata,  Gaudich. 
Urera  acuminata,  Gaudich.     (Mauritiu:!.) 
Gimrdinia  zeylaiiica,  Decne. 
Pilea  luccns,  Wedd. 
Procris  peduuculaia,  Wedd. 
Fatoua  pilosa,  Gaud.     3671,  7.     (R-  Brown,  Coupang.) 

lanceulata,  Decne. 
Pouzolzia  laevigata,  Gai/ff.    Mauritius;  Timor, _^(?e  Decalsuo. 

indiea,  L.     (R.  Brown,  Coujiang.) 
Pipturus  argenteus.  }yedd.     3742,  8. 

int-anus,  Wedd.     3686,  40?  8,  7. 
Phyllochlarays  spinosa,  Ed.  Bur. 
Malaisia  toriuosa,  Blanco. 

Ficus  indiea,  L.    (R.  Brown's  list,  Coupang,  "Tijka"  ;  Gaud.,  "  Goudas.") 
religiosa,  L.    (R.  Brown's  list,  Coupang;  Gaudicbaud,  "Goudas." 
repens,  Willd.     (R.  Brown's  list,  Coupang.)* 
Artocarpus  iiitegrit'oliii,  Bl.    3777.  4024,  9. 

incisn,  i.     (R.  Brown's  list,  Coupang.) 


*  The  species  of  Ficus  collected  by  Mr.  Forbes  will  bo  noticed  by  Dr.  G. 
King,  of  the  Botanical  Gardens,  Calcutta,  in  his  forthcoming  illustrated  Mono- 
graph on  the  group. 


518  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


Cudnuiiix  javancnsis.  Tye'.-.     3731;  8. 

Boelimcria  plutypliylla,  Von,  var.  3!(11. 

Debrcgeasia  loiigifulia,  Wedd.     3G35  ;  fniit  bright  orange,  7  '  3778. 
C^isuarinex. 

Cflsuaiina  motitaiia,  Miq.     3514,  cf ,  slopes  of  valley  of  Waiinatang  Kaimauk, 
3200  it.,  3746,  8;  3836,10  a;    ?,  1. 
Caiiferx. 

Dacrydium  sp.     3855,  10  b. 

MONOCOTYLEDONES,  by  H.  N.  RlDI-EY,  M.A.,  F.L.S. 
Hijdrocharidex. 

Ottelia  alismoidLS,  Iticli.     (Coiipang,  E.  Biowu.) 
OrcMdete. 

Oberonia  glandulifeua,  Rldl.  (sp.  r>cv.).— Acanl^,  foliis  ensiformibuS  cqui- 
tantibus  acutis  4-uncialibus ;  scapo  giacili  longo  imiltilloro;  floiibiis 
parvis  subverticillatis  ;  bracteis  lanceolads  acutis  serralis;  scpalibus  ovatis 
obtusis  iiitegris,  petalis  subsimilibus  ai)guslioribiis ;  labello  brevi  lato 
cariiosulo  obscure  5-l()bo,  lobis  lateralibus  erectis  rolumnain  amplecteu- 
tibus,  lobo  medio  3-lobo,  ]:iteralibus  rotundatis  obtusi.-i,  medio  obscuro 
parvo  obtuso,  margine  labelli  in  biiiubus  inter  lobos  lateral  s  et  lobuin 
medium  glanduloio ;  35?1,  7 ;  flowers  greenish-yellow. 

Liparis  distichn,  Lindl. 

LiPAP.is  ALRiTA,  Ridl.  (sp.  nov.),  3714,  7,— "Flowers  orange  and  light  red." 
Epipliyta,  pseudobulbis  {)arvis  ovatis  viridibus;  foliis  linoaribus  lanceoliitis 
siibacuiis  petiolatis;  caulibus  erectis  gracilibus:  bracteis  dissitis  ovutis 
acutis ;  tloribui  copiosis  parvis;  sepalibus  liuearibus  lanceolatis ;  pclalis 
linearibus;  labello  oblongo  abrupte  detiexo,  coslis  duabus  ad  basin  ciassis, 
lobis  lateralibus  brevibus  erectis  cornntis,  lobo  medio  oblongo,  triJobo, 
laternlibus  linearibus  convolutis,  iiitermedio  breviore  obtusu;  columna 
brevi  rectiuscula  crassa,alis  brevibus  duabus;  capsula  i^edicellata  globosa. 

Dcndrobium  affine,  Dec. 

maerophyllum  (Veitchianum.)     3761,  9, 
grandiflorum.     Ldl.    3820,  10  b. 
calophyllum,  7?c/i/>.  fil. 

Spathoglcttis  plicata,  Bl.  3504  ;  sides  of  stream  Maukuda,  near  station,  6  • 
3923,  near  10  ba. 

Cyrtopera  bicolor.    (Eulophia  bicolor,  Bl.) 

Sarcanthus  timoriensis,  Decne. 

(Erides  tiraoriaoum,  Miq. 

Vanda  tricolor,  JAndl. ;  3794,  9. 

Tropidia  curcuiigoides,  Bl.     Foweis  white;  3795,  9. 

Microtis  parviliora,  R.  Br.  3.')63,  6.  This  species,  of  a  typically  Australian 
genus,  oc-ur:-  also  in  tlic  Loy.dty  Islands,  the  Isle  of  Pines,  New  Caledonia 
and  New  Zealand. 

Spirantiies  austr.dis,  R.  Br.    3824,  3S25,  38G2, 10  b. 

Caladenia  javanica,  Bpiin..]MS.  in  Herb.  Brit.  Mus. ;  3516  [errore  3r)0G]  6. 
"Among  grass  on  lo^'ky  slope,  8." — Terrestris,  cauio  crecto  hispido;  lolio 
siiigulo  lineaii ;  bracteis  brevibus  ovatis  lanceolntis  acutis  hispidis ; 
floribus  2  parvis;  pcdicellis  quam  bractca  brevioribus;  sepalis  oblongis 
lanceolatis  brevibus  acutis  hispidis;  petalis  subaqualibus ;  labello  la(o 
costato  purpureo,  pustulis  flavis  oriiato;  columna  curva  purpureo-ornata, 
anthera  apiculata.     Allied  to  C.  carnea,  R.  Br. 

Thelymitra  Foebesii,  Ridl.  (sp.  nov.). — Terre^tis,  <  aule  gracili,  5-unciali : 
folio  singulo  anguste  lincari  glabra  3-unci.di ;  vaginis  caulinis  2;  flore 
singulo;  bractea  ovario  ferme  icquante  lauceolata  acuta;  sepalis  lanceo- 
latis linearibus  acutis;  petalis  latiorib;is  la  iceolatis  ;  coUi'mia  brevi  curva 
crassiuscula  ciliata  ;  labello  1  ite  laiiccolato  punctato  obluso.  Quite 
distinct  from  T.  jaranica,  Bl.,  and  most  nearly  approaching  the  T.  ruhrd  of 
Australia.     3509,  3  ,'  flowers  purple.     Bire  banks. 


IN  TIMOR.  519 

Diurjs  Fkva:;a,  i?/(7?.  (sp.  nov.),  3508;  "flowers  yellow";  near  2. — Herba 
terrestris;  tuberibiis  diiobus  ovatis;  caule  crccto  gracili  i-l-pedali ;  foliis 
anguste  liuearibus  aciiminatis  loiigis ;  floribus  panels  1-2  pedicellatis ; 
pedicello  lougiusculo ;  bractea  lanceolata  loiige  acuminata  ;  sepalo  postico 
ovato-oljtuso,  bast  paul'o  augustato  ;  lateralibus  linearibus  obtusis 
porrectis  jjarallelis ;  petalis  ovatis  obtusis  basi  angiistutis;  labello  elongate 
3-lobo,  lobis  lateralibus  obtusis  crenulatis  venosis  orectis,  medio  longo 
obscure  3-lobo  costis  tribus,  duabus  lateralibus  ad  basin,  una  media 
ad  apiccni ;  marginibus  labelli  deflexis ;  coiunnia  brcvi,  alls  n;ajnseulis, 
bnsi  diliitata,  nou  dcnticnlata.  Tliis  record  extends  the  range  of  the  genus 
Diuris,  hitiierto  otdy  known  from  Au?tialia,  to  the  Malayan  region. 

[I  have  taken  the  libeity  of  asking  Mr.  Ridley  to  mime  this  interesting 
species  in  honour  of  the  Et.  Hon.  Lord  Justice  Fry,  who  during  my  travels 
in  the  East,  expressed  great  inter,  st  in  my  observations,  and  who  has 
given  much  attention  to  the  Orchidea)  and  to  the  question  c  f  tlieir 
fertilisation.     H.  O.  F.] 

Haben.\kia  (Peuistylusj  timorensis,  Ilidl.  (sp.  nov.). — Terrestris,  tubers 
oblongo,  foliis  b.isalibus  duobus  ovatis  oblongis  ;  vaginis4-lanceolatis  longe 
acuniinatis ;  sc.ipo  subsracili  vix  pcdale ;  racemo  laxinscnlo  ;  lleribus  circiter 
11  parvis  ;  bracteis  lanceolatis  acuniinatis;  sepalo  posiico  cucullato  ovato 
acuniinato,  lateralibus  lanceolatis  acutis ;  petalibus  subsimilibus  angus- 
tioribus:  labello  obcuncato,  breviter  3-lobo,  basi[peta!is  sepal isque  adnatis, 
callo  carnoso  semicircuh^ri,  lobis  lateralibus  lati.s,  medio  brevi  obtuso, 
calcare  scrotiformi,  apiculato  co'umna  brevissima;  anthera  lata,  loculis 
parallelis,  polliuiis  grouse  granulosis,  cauiliculisbrevibus ;  stigmute  breviter 
bilobo.  Its  affinity  is  with  H.  spiralis,  Wight.  3520,  6.  Flowers  yellow- 
ish-green. 

Habeuaria  Su.sann?c,  Bentli.  3137,1;  very  sweet  nectar  at  tip  of  the  nectary ; 
nectaried  S^^-iii.  in  average  length.  Fertilised  by  a  species  of 
Ophiodes  and  liemigia  virhia  moths, 
grandis,  Bentli.  3142,  1,  Nectaries  with  sweet  nectar;  tl-.c 
anthers  burst  of  thcmschcs  and  pollen  fails  out  as  minute 
particles, 
sp.  alf.  angustata.  Jil. 

Herminium  angustifolinm,  Beidh.  In  roclcy  spols,  by  side  of  a  stream 
35G1,  6 ;  :^52i,  6 ;  3515,  6 ;  3823, 10  b. 

Scitaminex. 

Globba  sfrolnlifern,  ZoU.  Mor.     (R.  Brown,  Coupang.) 

Hcdychium  coronariiuii.  Koen.     3712  a,  and.  4113,  7. 

Curcuma  (prob.  sp.  nov.).     314G,  1, 

Costus  speciosus,  L.     373.',  8, 

Canna  indica,  L.     3750  and  4009,  g.     (R-  Brown.  Couiiang.) 

Mu.sa  paradisiaca,  L. 

Hypoxideis. 

Hyporis  aurea,  Loxr.    (11.  Franciucvillei.  Miq.). 

liygrometrica,  var.  pratcnsis,  7^  Br.    35C4,  6.    Ilithoi  io  only  known 
from  Australia. 

Amtryllideae. 

Crinum  asiaticum,  lioxh. 
Dioscoreacex. 

Dio.corea  glnbnsn,  Boxh.     38 19,  10  a. 

pentaphylla,  Lam.    G,  3G89, 7 ;  3900, 10  a.  5',  4080,  G-   (R-  Brown, 
Coupang.) 
Tricliodcsma  zcylanica,  It.  Br.  var. 

TaccacL'K. 

Tacca  palmata.  Bl.     37C5,  9i 

pinnatifiila,  Font.     4017,  9  ;  3735.  8  ;  »om  iud.  "  Telo." 


520  A   NATUHALIST'S    WANDERINGS 

Liliacese. 

Smilax  timojensis,  Bl.    3741,  8.    Tlie  two  pairs  of  umbtls  of  flowers  together 
serve  cUarly  to  distinguish  it  from  S.  latifoh'a. 
*  anceps,  Willd. — This  Muscarine  plant  was  said  by  Docaisne  to  have 

been  collected  in  Timor  l)y  Kiedle  and  Guichenot.     Dj  Candolle 
says  that  the  specimens  on  which  Decaisue  ibunded  his  species  are 
without  flowers  and  very  doubtful.     It  seems  more  probable  they 
belong  to  S.  timorensis,  and  hardly  likely  thut  a  plaut  known  only 
from  the  Mascarine  Islands  and  Mddagascar  should  be  found  also 
in  Timor. 
ErSTKEPHUS  TiMOKENSis,  Midi.  (sp.  nov.) — Frutex  scandens,  caulibua  tenui- 
bus  ;  foliis  (jlahris  alternis  lucidis  striolatis  sexcostatis  Lmceulalis  minute 
apiculatis  brevi-petiolatis ;  petiolis  tortis ;  bracteis  deciduis  jmrvis  vagin- 
antibus  ovatis  purpurascentibus  ;  inflorescentia  composita  terminali  cymosa, 
pedicellis   florum    tenuibus ;    bacca  snbglobosa   nicp-a   pericarpio  tenui ; 
pulpa  parva  ;  seniinibus  1-3  uigrislrovibus  politis,  oblongis  subtriangulatis, 
embryone  in  medio  albuminis  cornei  parura  curve.    This  is  a  very  interesting 
plant,  of  which  unfortunately  we  have  not  the  flowers.    The  only  other 
species  in  the  genus,  E.  Brownii,  is  a  well-known  Australian  plant,  with 
pink  flowers  and  orancre  berries.     3530,  6. 
Laxmaniiia  sessiliflora,  Decne.    Exclusively  Australian  genus. 
Cordyline  timoriensis,  Bl. 

Dracaena  timorensis,  Kth.    (D.  reflexa,  Decaisne.) 
Asparagus  racemosus  TK.  (Asparagopsis  Decaianci,  Kth.)  "  Samodok  nehau," 

native  name.     3800,  9. 
Gloriosa  superba,  L.     3435,  1 ;  3827,  10  a,  3130, 1. 

rontederiacex. 

Mouorhoria  vaginalis,  Decne. 

Commelinacex. 

Aneilema  nudiflorum,  R.  Br.    3548,  6  ;  3789,  9. 
Cyanotis  crista ta,  R.  and  S.    3724,  8. 

Palmie. 

Metroxylon  Rumphii,  Mart. 
Arera  catechu,  Roxb. 
Cocos  nucifera,  L. 

Pandanex. 

Frcycinctia  angustifolia,  Bl.    (R.  Brown,  Cou[iang.) 

scandens,  Gaud.     3577,  6. 
Pandanus  sp. 

Aroid^x. 

Typhonium  divaricatum,  Decne. 

sp.  fruit.     (R.  Ijrown,  Coupang.). 
Arisferaa  sp.,  in  fruit  only.     3633,  7. 

Remusalia  vivipara,  Scho'tt.    3788,  9  ;  on  calcareous  rocks, 
lihaphidophora  pertusa,  Schott.     (R.  Brown,  Coupang.) 
Caludium  esculeiitum,  Schott.     (R.  Brown,  Coupang.) 
Amorphophallus  campanulatus,  Decne. 

Cijperacex. 

Cyperus  hyalinus,    Vald.    CR.  Brown,  Coupang.)     A  very  rare  plant,  Ihc 
'  only  other  known  locality  being  in  Madras, 

compressus,  L.     (R.  Brown,  Coupang.) 
globosus,  All. 
lon^ifolius.  Pair. 
radiatus,  Vahl. 

scoparius,  Poir. ;  au  African  and  Mascarene  plant, 
venustus,  R.  Br. 
pennatus,  Lam. 


IN  TIMOR.  521 


Cyperus  diflformis,  L. 

auricomus,  Sieh.     (R.  Brown,  Coupang.) 
rotundus,  L.    (II.  Brown,  Coupang.) 
cuspidatus,  Vahl.     3598.  7. 
ferax.  Rich. 

diffusus,  Vulil.    KuDstler. 
umbellatus,  Benth.     3540,  6. 
Kylliuga  brevitblia,  Uoth.    (Coupang,  Home.)    3538,  6. 

monocephala.  Both. 
Heleocharis  capitata,  B.  Br. 
Seiipus  mucrouatnti,  L. 

supinus,  L.  (S.  luzonensis,  Presl;  S.  timoreusis,  Kth.) 
Fimbristylis  miliacea,  Vahl. 
ferruginea,  Vahl. 
complanata,  Linh. 

communi.'s,  Ktli.     (IJ.  Brown,  Coupang.) 
var.  gracillinia,  n.  var. 

gracillinia;  foliis  angustissimis  glaucis;  culmis  subpedalibus 
tenuibus  debilibus  ;  spiculis  parvis  SEepius  congestis  pallidis, 
vaginis  glabriusculis.     3539,  6, 
glomerata,  iVees. 
barbata,  JVees. 
Fuirena  glomerata,  Vnhl. 
Scleria  scrobiculata  Nees. 

purpurasce.is,  c  teudel. 
Graminex. 

Paspalum  scrobiculatum,  L.    3472,  1,     (R.  Brown,  Coupang.) 

orbiculare,  For^t.     3 1 02,  1, 
Eriochloa  polystacliya,  U.  B.  K.     (K.  Brown,  Coupang.) 
Isachne  minutula,  Kth, 

patens.     R.Br.     'R.Brown,  Coupang.) 
Panicuni  prostratum.  Lam.,  var.  setigerum. 
inultiuode,  Lam. 
fluitans,  B<tz. 

colouum,  L.    (R.  Brown,  Coupang.) 
accrescens,  Trin. 

sanguinale,  L.    (R.  Brown,  Coupang.) 
javanicuni.  Pair.     (R.  Brown,  Coupang.) 
carinutum.  Fresh     (R.  Brown,  Coupang.) 
propinquum.  R.  Br. 
helopus,  Trin. 

cimioinum,  Rcfz.     (R.  Brown,  Cmpang). 
Setaria  verticdlata,  Beauv.     (R.  Brown, Coupang.) 

glauca,  Beauo.    (R.  Brown,  Coupang.)    On  reii  clay  ;  3427,  3428,  1 ; 
4081,  8.     I  cannot  distinguish  tliese  plants  tio.n  Fanicum  ruhi- 
ginosum  of  Steudel. 
Oplismcnus  hiitillus,  Beauv.     (R.  Brown,  Coupang.) 

coiiipositus,  Beauv.     (R.  Brown,  Coupang.) 
Spinifex  squarn  sus,  L. 

longifolius,  R.  Br. 
Coix  Inclirynia-Jobi,  L. 
Scleracline   punctata,  R.  Br.    (R.  Biown,  Cuupang ;   only  once  collected 

previously  in  Java  by  Ilnrsfitld.) 
Zca  mays,  L.     (Cult.;  R.  Bri)wn.) 
Saccliarum  stennpliyllum,  Jiuxi'. 

cctiyptiacum,  R.  Br.     (R.  Brown.  Coupang). 
officinale,  L.    (R.  Brown's  list,  Coupang.) 
Erianthus  aureus,  Xees. 
I'egoniitherum  criuitum,  Beauv.  Coupang. 
Rottboellia  exaltat.i,  L.    (R.  Brown,  Coupang.) 
Manisuris  granulans,  Sw. 


522  A   NATURALIST'S    WANDERINGS 


Tlielepogon  elegans,  Roth.     (R.  Brown,  Coupang.) 
Pollinia  laxa,  Nees. 
Iscbaiiiium  rugosiim,  Miq. 

mutcium,  L. 
Hetcropogon  cantortus,  All.     (R.  Brown,  Coupang.) 

insignia,  Thir. 
Chrysopo:;on  aciculatus,  Trin.  (R.  Brown,  Coupang.) 
Andropogon  parviflorus,  Iloxh.     (R.  Brown,  Coupang.) 
seiratus,  Relz.     (R.  Brown,  Coupang.) 
Bladhii,  Itetz. 
Leschenaultianuni,  Dec. 
diversiflorus,  Steud.    (R.  Brown,  Coupang, ) 
Apluda  aristala, -Box6.     4107,  1. 
Anthistiria  trondosa,  B.  Br.     (R.  Brown,  Coupang.) 
ciliata.     34S1,  1. 
yjilifera,  Steud. 
Sorghum  timoriens^,  Buse.     4032,  1. 
s-p.  ?  (R.  Brown,  Coupang.  1 
Aristida,  sp.  near  cumingiana.     34G3,  1. 
S^porobolus  diandrus,  jB.  i?r.     (R.  Brown,  Coupang.) 
Trisetum  antarcticum,  var.  d"iisum.     Exactly  the  form  collected  by  Kirk, 

at  Port  Nicholson,  Nortli  Island,  New  Zealand. 
Cencliriis  cchinatus,  L.    (R.  Brown,  Coupang.j 
Chlorid  trnncata,  II.  Br. 
radiala,  Sw. 

incomplcta,  B  ,th.     (R.  Brown,  Coupang.) 
barbata,  Sw.     (R.  Brown,  Coupang.) 
sp.  atf.  barbata. 
Eleusine  indica,  Siv.     (R.  Brown,  Coupang.) 

03gyptiaca,  Gaertn.     (R.  Brown,  Coupang.) 
Cynodon  dactylon,  L. 

Eragroslis  Cumhigii,  Steud.     (R.  Brown,  Coupang.) 
rubens,  Lam. 

pluniosa,  Retz.     (R.  Brown,  Coupang.) 
hapalaiitha,  Trin. 
Koenigii,  iS'ers. 
Hesuosa,  Boxh. 
multi  flora,  Boxh. 

amabilis,  L.    (R.  Brown,  Coupang.) 
mega.stac'.iya,  Nees. 
Centotbeca  lappacea,  Beauv.     (R.  Brown,  Coupang.) 
Lcpturiis  rcpens,  B.  Br.     CR.  hrown,  Coupang.) 

FiLiCES,  by  AV.  Cakruthers,  F.R.S.,  F.L.S. 

Gleiebenii  diclictnma,  Willd.     3181,1, 
Hymen(;pliyllam  dilatatuni,  Sio.     380tj,  10  b. 
'Jrichomanes  saxifragoides,  Fr.     394G,  Q, 

rigidum,  Sw.     3175,  1. 
Lindsa?a  en.si folia,  Sw.     3179,  1, 

Adiantum  lunulatum,  Burm.     3431,  1 ;  3.5G0,  6  ;  3G15,  7;  3753,  8. 
rhizophoruni,  Sw.     3527,  6  J  3941,  S. 
hisp'.dulura,  Sw.     3176,  1 ;  3593,  7. 
Clicilaiitbes  fariiiosa,  Kaidf.     352G,  4071,  6. 

tenuifoli-i,  Sw.     3145,  1, 
Oiiychium  lucidum,  Gpreng.     35G2,  6. 
Peflaia  geraniifolia,  Fee.     3716,  near  8  ;  •1014,  7. 

paradoxa,  IJool:.     3918,  10  b. 
Pteris  loiigifolia,  L.     3G90,  7. 
vennsta,  Kzs.     4019,  7. 
crenata,  Sw.    3717,  near  8. 


IN   TIMOR.  523 


Pteiis  pyrophylla,  Bl.     4097,  1, 

nemorulis,  Willd.    3409, 1, 

quadriaurita,  Retz.     3583,  6  ;  3G94,  7  ;  3948,  7  ;  4005, 1 
Doodia  dives,  ivze.     3701,  7;  3927. 
Aspleniura  lunulatum.  Sic.    3867,  10  b, 

falcatiim,  Lam.     3692.  7. 

caudatuii),  Ford.     4063,  10  b. 

diaphanum,  Bl.     3864.  lO  b. 

steieophylluni,  Kze.     3.j9tj,  7, 

japoniciiin,  Thunh.     3U07,  7. 
Aspidium  aculeatum,  Sic.     3926,  3949,  7. 

aii^tatum,  Sw.    3606,  7. 
Xcphroilium  iiniluni,  R.  Br.    3581,  6. 

pteioides,  J.  Sin.     4095,  1, 
Xephrolepis  acuta,  /'red.     3689.  7. 
Oleaudra  ueriiformis,  Car.     3482,  j.     3G93  ;  en  rocks,  7, 
Pol\  podium  subauiicidatuni,  Bl.     3565,  3568,  Q, 
Xotholajua  hirsuta,  Desv.     36SS  ;  in  crevices  of  rocks,  ''/  ;  3937,  g, 
Gymiiogramme  involuta,  Don.     3594,  7. 
Vittaria  eloiigata.  Sic.     (3642)  3632,  7  ;  3920,  4094,  10  b. 
Acrosticliuin  spicatiiin.  T^iiin.     35;)4,  7  ;  3902,  3914, 10  b. 
" Opliiogl jsaum  sp.'     H.  O.  l'\,  sec  p.  447. 


INDEX. 


Accipiter  ruhricollis,  393 

Action  of  crabs  ou  coral  mud  flats,  25 

Agarhtidie,  members  of,  luiiuicked  by 
otiicr  Lepidoptera,  173 

Agassiz,  Prof,  on  coral  reefs  So,  40 ; 
on  Tortuga  and  Florida  Ecefs,  37 

Affwstemma  moiitanum,  78 

Albino,  Senlior,  his  kindness,  41G 

^/e/uroscf  Bum,  31)2,3)1 

Alexander  the  Great,  178,  194;  grave 
of,  'itJO 

Amadina  ins2daris,  422 

Amhil-anali,  a  form  of  nia;r  age  in  fhc 
Larapongs,  151  ;  in  Tassumali  Lauds, 
19G 

Amhh/podia  eumdlpua,  137 

Amboina,  ariival  in,  288;  first  im- 
pressions of,  288 ;   visit  interior  of, 

289  ;    ptople  of,  290;  chun-hes  iii, 

290  ;  salubrity  of,  298;  kindness  of 
the  Captain  of  the  Chinese  iu,  288, 
297  ;  Resident  of,  288 

Air.esiajuven's,  mimicking  in,  139 
Amherstia  nohill^,  9 
Amnomi  decom,  172  ;  habits  of,  173 
Ammma  cudnmin,  new  species.  275 
Anioriihopludlus  titanuin,  10,175;  great 

tubers  of,  227 
Anacropora   forhe»i,   new    genus    an  I 

species     of    corals     fiom     Keeling 

Islands,  44 
An(iph(di.<J(tvanica, 210 1  saxafilis,  210 
A)i(ih  Daldiii,  romance  of,  158 
Anchors,  three,  diedged  up  at  IMenado, 

48G;  list  of  organisms  adhering   to 

them,  490 
Anjer,  visit  to,  in  1878,  11;  view  of 

Sunda  Straits  from,  11  ;  stay  at,  ICl ; 

last  look  of,  488 
A)ion>f  utolidua,  32 
Antelojje,  Sumatran,  172 
Anh'unarii,  23 
Anthmcocerus  convexu»,  252 
Anthers,  two  forms  of,  in  Melastoma, 

229 
Anthropomorphous  apes,  resemblance 

of  the  Kubus  to  t'.ie,  243 

35 


Antlim  medlus,  459 

Ants  inhabiting  Myrmeeodia  a'ld  IIij- 

nophijfum,  79 ;  at  species  of  Itafflesi- 

acex,  206 ;  milking  winged  Hemip- 

tem,  251 
Appias  nero.  note  on  coloration  of  sexes 

of,  130 
Apis  dorsata,  habits  of,  478 
Api-osmictus  huniensis,  393 
Araliida  Hills,  1 
Arachis  hypogiea,  392 
Arhoropliila  personata,  172 
Argns  pheasants,  130;  habits  of,  131 
Arms  of  Timorese,  403 
Aru,  touch  at,  300 
Alt,    unknown    to    the   Kubus,    236; 

among  Timnr-laiit  islanders,  317 
Artaxa  siinulaiis,  mimicry  of,  173 
Aitistic  taste  among  Solorese,  285 
Artocarpui  rncisa,  334,  438 
Anindina  speciosa,  fertilisation  of,  88, 

91-94,  90 
Aitparacjus  raremosm,  471 
Adicfopterus  armatiis,  215 
Attack.ou  our  house  at  Fatunaba,  460 

Babirusa  in  Burn,  407  ;  native  account 

of  its  habits,  407 
Badui,  curious  jaco  of  people  in  Java, 

102, 103 
Bagu.ila,  Bay  of,  290    ^ 
/y«/«j,  the,  a  Lampnig  institution,  140  ; 

descii))tion  of,  141 ;  equivalent  of  iu 

Burn,  3,)4 
Balik  Buinpa,  superstitions  attaching  to 

tins  troL-,  228 
Ball,  loot-,  in  the  Lampongs,  149 
Jiahiai  of  Amboina,  29;} 
lUnihinia.  great  beauty  of,  252 
Bantam.  Sidtan  of,  144;   inlhienco  of, 

in  the  Lamitongs,  144;  roads  in,  52; 

Sundanese  in,  52  ;  ricu  cultivation  in, 

52 
Banteng,  in  Java,  116 
Banda,  birds  in,  287  ;  calls  at,  286 
Jidxsia  sji.,  corollas  of,  233 
Bastian,  Prof,  on  Wakilo-Burueso,  402 


526 


INDEX. 


Batavia,  description  of,  5,  7 ;  Chinese 

in,  7  ;  Arabs  in,  7 
Batracliians  in  Tiinoi-laut,  337 
Bats  in  West  Java,  71 
Batu-Brah,  houses  in  the  vi]la<?eof,  167 
Batii-l'antjeh,    village  of,    217;    coial 

blocks  near,  217  ;  treatment  received 

in,  217;  liouses  in,  217;    marriages 

ill.  218  ;  games  in,  219 
Beads,  Timor,  285 
Beccari,  Dr.,  206 
Beddome,  Colonel,  on  forest  devasta- 

fon,  62 
Belenois,  coloration  of  sexes  of,  130 
Bell-birds,  their  plumage,  58 
Beneawang,  stay  at,  161 
Bio,  or  Javanese  {rraelvle,  72 
Bibi(,'U9u,  stay  at,  ii'J  ;  view  from,  453; 

houses  in,  454 
Bigin  'J'elok,  stay  at  village  of.  253 
Bird  life  on  the  liujjit  river,  238 
Biids.  near  Dill}',  421,  422;  near  Sauo 

ill  Timor,  434  ;  of  Buru,  list  of,  409 ; 

at  sea,  4,  5;  of  Keeling  Island,  list 

of,  44:  of  Sumatra,  list  of,  268;  of 

Timordaut,  list  of,  355 ;  at  Wakolo 

Lake,  406 
Bird's  excreta  mimicked  by  spider,  63 
Birqiislatro,  liabits  of,  27 
Uirths,  illegitimate,  in  Passumah,  197  ; 

ill  K'sam,  182 
Blacksmiths,  native,  in  Java,  GG 
Bloo  1-raoney,  law  as  to,  145 
Blood   brotherhood,    ceremony   of,    in 

Timor,  452 
Bock,  Call,   collected  bir.ls  in  Suma- 
tra, 268 
Boca  treuhii,  251  :  description  of,  279 
Bonibus  senex,  208;   fertilising  Mdas- 

toma,  228 
Bonnier,  31.,  observations  on  S'am?)«CMS, 

22tJ 
Bos  hanteng  in  Java.  1 16 
Botia  micranthus,  177 
Botys  dedudalis,  172 
Boulenger,  Mr.,  on  reptiles  and  balra- 

chiaiis  from  Timor-laut,  368 
Bracliijpter^/x  alratus.  209 
Krackeii  ferns,  397 

Bread-fruit  trees  at  Tengah-teng  di,  292 
Britten,  Mr.  J.,  on  Timor  plants,  499 
Brocken,  Spectre  of  the,  213 
Brown's,  R.,  plants  from  Timor,  497 
Brugmamia  loivii,  154 
Brugmunma,  new  species  of,  20-1 
Bryophi/Uam  cahjcinum,  notes  on  leaves 

of,  82 ; 
Bubulcus  coromamhis,  177 
Buceros,    spp.,     130;     gcdeatus,     152; 

anatomy  of  its  casque,  153 
Buchnera,  new  species  of,  430 


Buifido-birds,  55 

Buffaloes  in  'I'imor-laut,  312,  336 

Biiitenzorg,  beauty  of,  8  ;  its  surround- 
ing scenery,  9  ;  its  botanical  garden,  9 

Buini-pailang,  halt  at,  166 

Bur"k,  Dr.,  observations  of,  on  |  ollen  of 
Melastoma,  22.) ;  o:i  Mynnscodia  and 
Ilydnophytmn,  SO 

Burial  rites  in  Kisiim,  1 82  ;  in  Timor,  435, 
405;  and  places  in  'I'imordaut,  322; 
ill  Buru,  404,  405 ;  in  Pa^sumah,  1^9 

Burliiigs,  the,  1 

Buru,  Ale'furus  of,  392;  dispersion  of 
Polynesian  races  from,  392  ;  birds  in, 
393,  394 ;  villages  in,  391 ;  houses 
in,  395;  marriage  lites  in,  404; 
death  and  burial  rites  in,  401,  405; 
superstitions  in,  405 

Butler,  Mr.  A.  G  ,  on  Lepidoptera  from 
Timor-laut,  375,  from  Sumatra,  276 

Bntvrides  jaxKinica,  \11 

Butterflies  collected  in  Timor-laut,  375 

Buxton,  Mr.  E.  C ,  collected  birds  in 
Sumatra,  268 

Cacatua  sulpliuren,  421 

Calaidhe  veratrifoUa,   fertilisation   of, 

84  ;  falsely  cleistogamous,  85 
Calcareous  rocks  near  Liguani  river,  481 
Callidryas,  coloration  of  the  sexes  of,  130 
Callidula  javanica.  172 
C(dliplea  visenda,  325 
Ca  lodraco  ja  cqnin  ii.  1 69 
Caloperdix  oculea,  226 
Camhodia,  9 
Cambridge,  Rev.  O.  P.,  on  a  new  genus 

of  spiders,  63,  119-121 
Campnnulacea}  in  Timor,  430 
Canals  in  Batavia,  5 
Caidhecnma  cognata,  277 
Capriconiis  siimatrensis,  172 
Captain  of  tiie  Chintse  in  Amboina, 

kindness  of,  288 
Corpnphaga  concinna,  2^7 
Carriage,  a,  in  the  village  of  Peng.in- 

doiKin,  1S4 
Carrufhers.  Mr.  W.,  F.R.S  ,  on  Timor 

ferns,  522 
Cattleyas,  10 

Cethosia  Carolina,  new  species,  274 
Cepltalanthera  grandiflora,  fertilisation 

of,  85 
Cerhera    lartarea,    C.    odollam,    food- 

plauts  of  Oruithopteraj,  291 
Cerillo  Pe.ik,  191 ;  superstitions  about, 

192 
Cervus  liippelaphus,  31 ;  equinus,  31 
Cethosia  lamarckii,  470 
Ceyx  cajeli,  393 

Chttodon  in  Keeling  lagoon,  24 
Chanapa  sacerdos,  325 


INDEX. 


527 


Charaxes  euryolus,  29') 

Charm  in  rrce-fiekls,  170 

Chase,  the,  iu  Buru,  396 

Children's  games   in  Timor-laut,  321, 

322;  in  Java,  68  ;  in  Sumatra,  219 
Cliildren,  treatment  of,  in  Timor-laut, 
315,  316,  321;   use  of  dol!s  bv,   iu 
Timor-laut,  321 
Chry$oqlosr,um  sp.,  fertilisation  of,  95 
Church  at  Wai,  imposiog  interior  of, 

29i 
Cinchona  plmtations  in  Java,  103 
Cinchona  leJgcriana,  lOS;    succiruhra, 

109 
Cinnyrit  hasselfi,  description  of,  220 
C intra,  1 

Cissa  thalassina  in  Java,  115 
Cladonia  vulcanica,  114 
'  Claik-sheaf '  of  Scotland,  170 
Classification,    scientific,    among    the 

Sundanes^  54 
Cleistogamnus  fertilisation  of  coffee,  75 ; 

of  chrysoijlossum,  95 
Clinteria  forbesi,  new  spejic,  des  rip- 

tion  of,  496 
Clitorea  ternalensis,  2S4 
Cloth,   native,    in   Buiu,   404;    water- 
proofed by  tiie  natives,  404 
Clothing  of  the  Kubus,  23  i 
Cloud-etfects,  12 

Coat-of-nrms  in  Padjar-bulan,  180 
Cock-fight  in  Sumatra,  188,  189 
Cocoa-nut  crab,  27 ;  palms,  29 
Cocos-Keeling    Islands,   start  for,    1 1 ; 
first   impressions  of,    12 ;    object   of 
author's  visit  to,  13;  narrative  of  the, 
colony  in,  13;  proclamations  of,  as 
English  territory,  16 
Ccelops  frithii,  71 

Cofifee-gardens  at  Kosala,  Java,  70 
Coffee,  loss  on  from  drought  in  Java,  73 
Coiffures  in  Timor-laut,  307,  308 
Coleoptern,  from  Timor  laut,  370 
Culd,  efiejt  on  tiie  natives  of,  158;  on 

the  Dempo.  212 
Coleoptern  of  Keeling  Islands,  30 
Coloration  of  Appins  nero,  130  ;  Catop- 
silia,  130;  Ueliomoia  cfUiucippe,  130; 
of  Ganoris,  130  ;  of  BtlenoU,  of  lly- 
polymnas,  131 
Coloration,  alluring,  in  a  spider,  C3 
Coral  reef  formation,  in  the  Keeling 

Islands.  21,  .36.  39 
Corals  collected  oa  Keeling  Islands,  list 

of.  44-47 
Corals  killed  by  exposure  to  sun,  22 
Cordia    utthcorddta,  26,  28 ;    its  seeds 

buried  by  crabs.  20 
Conimelyua  nndijlora,  334 
Commernonia  tchinata,  use  of  its  bark, 
396 


Cosmoscarfa  jttno,  277 

Cross-fertilisation,  contrivance  for  se- 
curing, in  Curcuma,  247  ;    in  Mela s- 
foma,  229 
Cranial   characters   of  the   natives   of 

Timor-laut,  340 
Crater-growing  plants, 114 
Crayracions,  23 
Creation,  account  of  the,  in  Passumali 

Lands,  191 
Crime,  how  punished  in  Timor,  473 
Cringier  gniturah's,  172 
Crustacea  from  Timor-laut,  382 
Crustacean  action  on  coral  mud-flats, 

2.5,  26,  27 
CuUcicapa  ceylonensis,  209 
Cultivation  unknown  to  Kubus,  236 
Cunningham's,  Allan,  plants  from  Ti- 
mor, 497 
Curcuma  zerMm5e<,contrivance  for  cross- 
fertilisation  of,  247 
Currents,  sea,  in  the  Indian  Ocean,  28 
Cuscus,    how    caught   at   Paso,   291 ; 

ea-ten  by  pytlions,  291 
Cyclones  iu  Keeling  Islands,  17,  30 
Cymbidium  tricolor,  fertilisation  of,  83; 
stapeloides,  fertilisation  of, 
83 
CyiUliid  Juliana,  curious  habit  of,  138 
Cypliogadra  splendens,  303 
Cyredis  irmie,  new  species,  274 
Cyrestis  sp.  found  near  Hoodjoong,  172  ; 

percander,  137 
Cyrtostachys  rendu,  a  beautiful  palm,  9 

Dammar  trade  at  Gunung  Trang,  1S5, 

136 
Dampier,  his  account  of  Trassi,  61 ;  his 

voyage  to,  and  his  plants  from  Timor, 

497 
D.ma,  Prof.,  on  coral-reefs,  3G 
Dances  in  the  Limpnngs,  146,  149 
Dangerous  visit  to  Waitidal,  327 
Darwin's,   Jlr.   C,    visits    to    Keeling 

Island.*,  15,  28 ;  collection  of  plants 

in  Keeling  Islands,  28,  42 
Datura,  108 
Deatli  rites  in  Timor-laut,  322  ;  in  tlie 

Passimiah  Lands,  199  ;  in  Buru,  404 
Deformation  of  iuad  in  Timor-laut,  31G 
Demini,  Colonel,  408 
Demiefjretta  sacra,  33 
Dtmpo  volcano,   plants   of,    20G,  207, 

208,  210;    birds  on,  2j7,  210,  212: 

colli  on,  212 
Dendrohium  secundum,  208  :  )ihala'nop- 

sis,  £35;  antennaium,  335;  chrymn' 

thum,  fertilisation  of,    85,  95;    cru- 

me)i(itun>,  fertilisation  of,  81 
Detidrori/gna  guttata,  at  Wakolo  Lake, 

406 


528 


INDEX. 


Denudation,  oftWts  of,  174 

Detritus  of  rivers,  185 

Deica,  curious  petition  to  the,  230 

Dialects  of  Ea.-t  Timor,  490 

Ditticulties  with  natives  of  Paso,  207 

Digits,  reduplication  of,  among  Kubus, 
241 

Dilly,  call  at,  286;  arrival  at.  416; 
eftects  of  fever  there,  415 ;  look  tor  a 
site  for  a  house  near,  41tj ;  different 
races  in,  418;  birds  near,  421,  422; 
the  aspect  of  the  town,  41 ;  leave, 
485;  new  Vaccinmm  near,  i22 

DiplujUodes  respublica,  286 

Dipttm  from  Timor-laut,  380 

iJipteris  horsfieldi,  78, 158,  397  ;  in  cra- 
ters, 114;  dibtribution  in  Java,  114 

Dlpterocarpex,  247,  252 

Dirge,  death-,  223 

Diopiea,  Kteling  Islands,  31 ;  Dempo, 
212 

Disquieting  insignia  at  Timor-laut,  303 

Distant,  Mr.  W.  L.,  descriptions  of 
Sumatran  liltynchota,  277 

Ditmar,  Prof.,  on  composition  of  sea 
water,  36 

Diuris  Fryana,  430 

Djambi,  wish  to  enter,  240 ;  refused 
entrance  into,  250 

Dogs  kept  by  the  Karangs,  100 ;  by  the 
Kubus,  236 

iJoIichos  lahJah,  used  as  food,  438 

Dolls  used  by  cliildren  in  Tiiuor-Liut, 
321 

Doves,  pink-hcndetl,  72 

Dragon-Hy  mimicked  by  a  butterfly,  139 

Dress,  royal,  in  Timor,  447  ;  of  Soloretc, 
285 ;  of  Timoret^c,  462 ;  of  natives 
of  Timor-huit,  312,  313 ;  of  I'assu- 
niahers,  195 

Drossra  lunata,  422 

Drought  in  Java  in  1878,  loss  from,  75 

Drysdale,  Mr.,  in  'I'iraor  Cupaug,  281 

Dnperry's  plants  from  Timor,  497 

Durian  trees,  240  ;  fruit  eaten  by  tigers 
and  elephants,  240 

D'Urvillc's  plants  from  Timor,  498 

Dwellings  of  Timor-laut  islandeis,  in- 
terior of,  318 

Dyes  among  Timorese,  463 

Earthquake,  in  Java,  C3 ;  in  Keeling 
Islandsin  1834,23;  in  Keeling  Islands 
in  1876,  22  ;  wave.  Keeling  Islands, 
19  ;  at  the  Kaba,  225 

Earthenware  oi'jccts  from  Kosala,  98, 99 

Earthworms,  great  size  of  turrets  o.', 
227 

Ecledus  intermech'us,  393 

Egerou,  visit  of  SS.,  to  Timor-laut,  301 

Egeron  Strait,  301 


Elephants   in    Sumatra,    105;  fond   of 

Durian,  240 
Eleusine  coracana,  392 
Englishmen,  their  repute  in  Sumatra, 

204 
Eos  retienJata,  304 
Epacridiueas,  new  species  of,  438 
Eria  javensis,  fertilisation  of,  95;  albi- 

(1o-tomentosa,  fertilisation  of,  94 
Erlura.  camp  at,  428 
Edrdda  flavidiventris,  422 
Euchirus  longimanus,  291 
Eudynami'i  ransomi,  393 
Enmenes  visiting  Samhucus,  227 
Euplma  ochsenheimeri,  curious  habits  of, 

138 
J-  urhinia  fulva,  172 
Euschemida%  species  of,  mimicking  Oph- 

thalmis  sp.,  173 
Eusemia  helaugeri,odoiiT  emittedby,  173 

Fah-hian,  Chinese  pilgrim,  97 
l-'aiiy  blue-bird,  67 
Falls  of  river  Sem;mgka,  167 
Famine  in  Ulak-Tandjong  region,  233 
Fatuboi,  visit  to,  469 ;    description  of, 

469 
Fatunaba  hills  selected  for  a  hoiise,  417, 

420  ;  beauty  of  the  view  from,  421 
Fawcett,  Mr.  W.,  on  Timor  plants,  506, 

515;  description  of  new  Vaccinium, 

278 
Febrifuges  uscel  in  Timor-laut,  330 
Fertilisation  oi  Melastuma  by  Bombus, 

2:i8 
Fertilisation  of  Myrmerodia  and  Ihjdno- 

phytum,  80;  of  orchids,  82-97 
Fertilisation  of  >S'rtmti(CMS,notoou,  22G, 

227 
Fever,  elangerou3   malarial  in  Timor- 
laut,  330 
Ficns  aspera,  77  ;  cordifolia,  77 ;    mi- 

crocarpa,  77  ;  amplas,  77  ;  radicans, 

77 ;  palitoria,  77 
Fields  of  Buruese  tabooed,  403 
Fig-trees,  beauty  of,  77 
Fight,  cock-,  188 
File-fishes  in  Keeling  lagoon,  24 
Fire    in    herbarium    drying-house    in 

Timor-laut,  336 
Fishes  most  eaten  in  Java,  60 
Fish-preserves  in  rice-fields,  170 
Flies  on  Keeling  Islanels,  31 ;  on  Tcn- 

gamus,    159;    on    Dempo,   210;    at 

species  of  MaffleBiaceve,  206 
Floating  block  of  land,  486 
Floods,  efiect  of,  on  Ptupit  valley,  239 ; 

in  river  Ogan,  185 
Flora  at  Fij.tuboi,  470  ;  of  the  Kaba, 

232  ;  along  Kawas  river,  251 ;  along 

llupit  river,  237,  238 ;  on  volcanic 


INDEX. 


529 


mountains  in  Java,  78  ;  on  Tengamus 

mountains,    157,    158 ;    richness    of 

temperate,  1 ;  a  temperate,  in  Timor, 

440 
Floras  Timorensis  Prodrnmzf,  407 
Flowers  in  tropies,  2ol,  257 ;  floating 

on  river,  254 
Flowers  and  fruit,  scareity  of  on  trees  in 

Javn,  75 
Flu(j(jta  microcarpa,  206 
Flying-fox,  long  journeys  of,  32 
Forbes,  Mrs.,  joins  mo  in  Batavia,  283 ; 

aids   me    in   Amboina,  291  ;    great 

favourite  with  the  natives  of  T^nior- 

laut,  30(; ;  left  at  Fatunalw,  42(j,  427  ; 

bad  news  from,  478 ;   extract  from 

her  journal,  482 
Foreign  iniiuences  in  Bum,  401 
Franca,   da,  Major   283 ;    Mr.  Bcnto, 

41G  ;  Madame,  484,  487 
Fremanlle,  Capt.  (II.M.S.  Juno),  pro- 
claims Keeling  Islands  English  ttrri- 

tory,  IG 
Forest-devaslation  in  Java,  G2  ;  in  Su- 

matri),  132 
French  marigold,  440 
Fiigate-birds,  habits  of,  32 
Frogs  in  trees  and  thatch  at  Paso,  292 
Functions,    ditferent,    of    anthers    in 

MelasUmuu  229,  230 
Fruit,  scarcity  of,  on  trees  in  Java,  75 
Fungoid  disease  on  trees  in  Java,  70  ; 

in  Timor,  70 
Future  state,  idccs  of  Pacsumaheis  as 

to,  200 
Galium,  440 
Games  of  eliildron  in  Batu  Pautjeh, 

219 ;    in  Timor-laut,  321 ;    in  Lam- 
pongs,  149 
Game-cocks  in  Hoodjoong,  171 
Ganoris,  coloration  of  sexes  of,  130 
Garson,  Dr  J.  G.,  on  the  cranial  cha- 

lacters  of  natives  of  Timor-laut,  340  ; 

on  tlie  Kubus  of  Sumatr.i,  243,  201 
Gaudichaud's  plants  from  Timor,  497 
GauUheria  hucocarpa  in  craters,  114; 

punctata  iu  craters,  114  ;  rcpens,  78 
Giicarcinus,  habits  of,  21 
Gtdong-tetahan,  in  Sumatra,  stay  at, 

12G-130;  attacked  by  a  tiger  near, 

128 
Geikie,  Dr.  A.,  F  U.S.,  on  coral  reefs, 

40 
Gelpke,  Dr.  Solewijn,  collection  of  sto:io 

iiniilemeiit.s  of  Java  by.  07 
Gelasimus,   fields   of,   294 ;    habits   of 

species  of,  25,  2G 
Gelan,  Wai,  village  of,  in  Burn,  395 
Genfeiig,  in  Bantam,  stay  at.  53 
Geological  structure  of  Knniai  valley, 
432  ;  of  Kaimauk  river,  433  ;  of  Ve- 


birah  river,  479;  strata  near  Muara- 

Dua,  179  ;  of  Samoro  valley,  471 ;  of 

Eawas  region,  249  ;  of  Karang-nata 

Peak,  251 
George's,  King,  uniform  in  the  Pas>u- 

mah  Lands,  204 
Geocichla  macliil.i,  337 
Gessir,  visit  to,  299 
Geyser  of  the  Denipo,  211 
Gibbons  in  Java,  70 
Gleichenia,  78 

Gfloriosa  sxiperha,  in  T  mor,  471 
Gluta  hengltas,  eseharotic  effect  of  its 

sap, 113 
Gold-mines  in  Rawns  region,  210 
Gold-searehing   ceremonies   in  Timor, 

467 
Gold  in  Timor  rivers,  467;  in   Eupit 

liver,  239 
Gold  coins  refused  by  natives  of  Tiiuor- 

laut,  why,  30G 
Goitre  in  Hoodjoong,  171  ;  its  supposed 

cause,   171  ;  i:i    the    IJawas  district, 

171 ;  in  Timor,  468 
Goochjera  proccra,  fertil'sation  of,  9G 
Gordonia  rxcelsa,  207 
Gorges,  singular  in  Passumali  Lands, 

192 
Gossij2)ium  micrnnthum,  403 
Governor  of  Portuguese  Timor,   283; 

286 
Grace  of  Timor-laut  islanders.  322 
Graculajavanensis,  notes  on,  72 
Graekle,  Javanese,  72 
Grave-yard  trees  ia  Sumatra,  169 
Guichenot's  plants  from  Timor,  497 
Gunung-Megang,  burial-ground  of,  1S2 
Gunung-Trang,  ])epper  trade  of,  135 
Gijgis  Candida,  piloted  by,  12,  nesting- 

lilace,  31 

Uahcnaria  Susanncs,  feitilisation  of, 
296,  423 

Hair,  manner  of  arranging  in  Timor- 
laut,  307 ;  vanity  of  men  about, 
307 ;  eagerne.-s  to  have  it  cut  in 
Timor-laut,  30J ;  superstitious  fear  of 
our  possessing  scraps  of  their,  309  ; 
character  of,  in  Timor-laut  i.s]an(lers, 
.309;  of  Bunuse.at  Wakolo  Lake,  40J 

JTalirore  australis,  336 

Ifalohates  (water  bugs\  12 

Hanjuang  trees,  169 

Hare,  Mr.  Alexander,  and  his  nlatious 
with  Mr.  J.  C.  Ross,  14 

Ilargitt,  ]Mr..  on  Mirjh/pteg,  56 

Harvesting  iu  Timor,  454;  near  Hooi 
j  )ong.  170,  171 

Hats,  Bantamese,  59;  Og.in,  158; 
Solorese,  285 

Head-flattening  i;i  Timor-laut,  31G 


530 


INDEX. 


Head-htxnting  in  Timor,  450 
Hebomoia,  coloration  of  sexes  of,  130 
Hemileia,  coftee  disease,  71,  76 
Hemiptera,    winged,    milked   by   ants, 

251  ;  of  Keeling  Islands,  31 
Henslow,  Prof.,  M\:  Darwin's  Keeling 

plants  described  by,  2^,  42 
Herbarinm  at  Wakolo  lake  left  behind, 

407 ;    disaster   to,    made    in   Timor- 

laut,  334 
Herodias  nifjripes,  33 
Herons  in  keeling  Islands,  33 ;  killed 

by  glntinons  seeds,  30 
Hesperiidn',    habits    of    butterflies    of 

family,  63 
Heferodes  ansonialis,  111 
Hoodjoong,  villiige  of,  169 
House    at    Fatunaba    attacked,    460 ; 

difficulty  in  getting  a,  in  Timor-laut, 

305;  cluster   in  the   Komai    valley, 

431;  in  Buru,  395 
Home's,  Sir  Everard,  plants  from  Timor, 

498 
Homopsiiclie,  the  genus,  172 
Honey-eaters,  304;    in  Buru,  338;   in 

Ceram,  in  Timor,  338 
Honey,  scarcity  of,  in  Java  in  1878,  75 
Honey-glands  on  Samhucus,  226.  C27 
•  Honour  door,'  order  of  the,  146 
Hornbill,  Great,  153,  154 
Husband  clans  in  Timor,  457 
Huts  in  trees,  their  use,  43 1 ,  434 
Hiialobates    leuciscus,    70 ;    variegatus, 

156 
II ijmenoplera  of  Keeling  Islands,  31 ; 

from  Timor-laut,  380 
Ilijdiiopliijtum  formicarium,  79,  SO,  81 
Hildri>rhn  (dhriodris,  154 
Ihjdrociclda  ignicapillus,  154 
Hypericum  sp.  in  Java,  112 
Hijpohjmnas  anomaJa,  note  on  colouring 

of,  i'M;  forhesl,  325;  icallaceana,  134 
HypotR'nidia  striata.  111 
Hypoxis  hygrometrica,  447 

Insect  fauna,  of  Sumatra,  additions  to, 

274  ;  of  Keeling  Islands,  30 
Insects  carried  by  cyclone,  30 
Irene  titrcosa,  67 
Ixias  Jlavipennis,  new  s^jccies,  215,  275 

Journal,  Mrs.  Forbes',  extract  from,  4S2 
Janson,  Mr.  Oliver,  description  of  anew 
species  of  Cetoniidee  by,  496 

Kaba,   crater    of   the,    230,  231;    hot 

springs  at,  225 
Kaimauk  river,  439 
Kajeli,  arrive  at,  391  ;  description  of 

town  and  fort,  391  ;  trade  of,  392 
Kajuput  oil,  392 


Kaleobar,  hostility  of  the  villagers  of, 
304 

Kallima  spiridiva,  new  species,  274 

Kamp,  Mr.  Controller,  234,  240 

"  Kang-kang  "  frog,  mimicry  bv,  155, 
164 

Karang-Nata  Peak,  flora  of,  251 ;  geo- 
l"gy  of,  251 

Karangs  or  Kalangs,  a  curious  tribe 
at  Kosala,  99;  Iheir  worship,  99; 
curious  customs  of,  100 

Kc,  touch  at,  300 

Keeling  Islands,  see  Cocos-Kceling 
Islands 

Keane,  Mr.,  on  ethnical  relations  of 
the  people  of  Timor-laut,  311 

Kelehoho,  rest  at  Mount,  430 

Keiiali,  village  of,  167;  crops  in 
neighbourhood  of,  167;  soil  near, 
167  ;  houses  in,  168 

Kepala  Tjurup,  camp  at,  225, 

Kericoiila  jnvana,  71 

Kero,  or  thief  gibbet,  472,  473 

Kisam  writing,  181;  versiiicatiun,  181; 
dress,  182  ;  religion,  182  ;  burial  cus- 
tom.?, 182  ;  oaths,  182  ;  houses  in,  179; 
coat  of  arms  in  a  Kisam  village,  180 

King,  death  rites  of  a,  in  Timer,  437 

King,  Dr.  George,  his  m'  nogiaphon  the 
figs,  517 

Kirby,  Mr.  W.  F.,  on  Hymenoptcra  and 
Diptera  fiom  Timor-laut,  380 

Komai,  valley  of  the,  430 ;  house- 
cluster  in,  431 

Kosala,  in  Bantam,  97  ;  ruins  at,  98  ; 
the  estate-house  of,  59 ;  iu  the  Deccan, 
97  ;  in  Sarayu,  97 

Kotta-djawa,  village  of,  in  Sumntm,  131 

Krakatoa  eruption,  77 ;  earthquake, 
wave  of,  126;  volcano,  488 

Kubus,  a  forest-living  race  in  Sumatra, 
233,  234  ;  intelligence  of  242  ;  phar- 
macopoeia of,  243  ;  traditions  of.  243 ; 
pedigree  of,  244  ;  death  rites  of,  243  ; 
their  manner  of  trading,  235 ;  no  cul- 
tivation among,  236 ;  no  arts  among, 
236;  clothing  of,  236;  dogs  kept 
by,  236;  features  of,  236;  physical 
characteristics  of,  241, 242  ;  language 
of,  241 ;  marriage  among,  241 ;  in- 
termariiage  with  Malays,  241 ;  pro- 
perty of,  242 

Kuing  (or  sacred)  region  in  Buru,  397 

Laccadive  archipelago,  4 

Laclo,  Eajah'sof,  account  of,  480 ;  priso- 
ners at,  480 

Lagerstrwmiiu  238 

Laibohar  Peak,  332 

Lainor,  Kiijah's  of.  479;  dwellings  at, 
479 


INDEX. 


531 


LamiMse,  clesci'iption  of  a  species  of, 

276 
Lampongs,  the,  in  S.  Sumatra,  female 

oniameDts  in,    12G,   147  ;   feasts  in, 

147:  mariiage  customs  in,  150;  its 

language,    141 ;    alphabet  and  cha- 
racters, 142 
Lampongers,   descent    of,   141 ;    titles 

among,  143  ;  dances  iimong,  14G,  149 
Lamkitcs.  mcde  of  fighting  of,  451 
Laniellusleucogrammicua  in  Java,  115 
Landslips  as  the  etttctof  rain,  115 
Lantana,  flowers  of,  insects  attracted 

by,  134 
Larat.   t;ibbcted   heads  ard  members 

on  the  islet  of,  302 
Larantuka.  call  at.  284 
Lash,  ]Mr.  H.,  his  kindness  and  aid,  G8 
JAita,  the  curious  disease  called,  G'J,  70 
Land,  block  of  Hoating,  48G 
Laicang  Koree,  oider  of,  146 
Laws  in  Timor,  456 
Lnyard,  E.  L.,  on  weaver-birds,  57 
Ledger's,  IMr.,  account  of  introduction 

of  cinchona  seeds,  109 
Leisk,  Mr.,  at  tiic  Keeling  Islands,  15 
Leoharhus,  species  of,  177 
Lepar,  Sumatran  game,  210 
Lepidoptera  from  Timor-laut,  375 ;  of 

Keeling  Islands,  31 
Leptocirciis  virescens  mimics  a  dragon- 

tiy,  139. 
Leptoptilus,  in  Sumatra,  177 
Lepturns  repens,  aid  <  f ,  in  leclainiing 

land  from  the  sea.  26 
'  Les  Nectaires'  (51.  Bonnier),  226 
Life  on  the  Sumatrau  rivers,  delights 

of,  257 
Liguani  river,  480 
LiminUts  hochri.  '^15 
Limun,  tl  e  gold  of,  249 
Linga  and  Yoni,  worship  of,  at  Kcsala, 

101 
Linsang gracilis,  caught  swimming.  255 
Lintang  river,  raft  joumey  on,   215; 

scenery  along,  216 
LipfuidiK,  miniicrv  in,  173 
Lohila  grawlis,  277 
LniiKiptera  timoren»is,  417 
"•  Long-age  '   whortlelx?rry,  210 
LiHicrcu.s  process-ion  in  Sutna'ra,  175 
Lull,  or    labon,   431  ;     Vma-Jjuli,    the 

sacred   iuslitutiou  of  the  Timorese, 

424 
Lulled  ground,  as  rich  botanical  pre- 
serves, 454 
Luminosity  of  the   forest,   wonderful, 

164 
Luntar,  village  of,  183;  feast  in,  183 
Lusciitioia  J'uliginivenfris.  212 
Macacus  cynomologuH  in  Timor,  471 


Machik,  Dr.  and  Madame;  their  kind- 
ness, in  Sumatra,  126 ;  in  Amboina, 
299,  339,  408 

Macluer  Inlet,  New  Guinea,  behaviour 
of  natives  of,  300 

Mafra,  1 

Macr(,phthalmns,  25  ;  habits  of,  26 

Mahori  races,  dispersion  of,  from  Buru, 
392 

:\ralay  dignity,  246 

Malays,intermarriageof,witliKubus,  24 

Malay  bear,  255 

IMalawar,  Mount,  in  Java,  108 

INIaldive  Archipelago,  4 

Mammalia  of  Sumatia,  Mr.  Walla(  e 
on,  1(J5 

iMaintnalia  in  Keeling  Islands,  31 

Mangifera  fcetida,  23ii 

Margn,  Sumatran  communal  division, 
142;  its  laws,  142  ;  its  divisions,  143 

Markhams, Mr.  Clements  B.,  cinchona 
mission,  110 

iMiirket,  native,  in  Bantam,  59;  in 
Timor,  461 

Marriage  customs,  in  Batu-Pantjeh, 
218;  curious,  in  Timor,  457;  in 
Lampongs,  l.'iO;  and  lites  in  Timor- 
laut,  315;  in  Buru.  404;  the  cere- 
mony among  Passumahers,  196 

Marriage,  author's,  283 

]\Iaru,  mv  men  pay  a  collecting  visit  to, 
329 

iMatriarchal  descent,  evidences  of,  in 
Lampongs.  151  ;  in  Tassumali  Lands, 
196  ;  in  Timor,  4.i7 

Matalcau,  sacred  edifice  in  Buru,  and 
contents  of,  305 

iMatclies,  paralHn.  wide  use  of,  152 

iSIaukuda  river,  440 

Mauiais  quart  d'heure,  in  Timor-laut, 
330 

M'-gacriodes  forhesii,  27G 

Megaloplirijs  uusuta  mimics  dead  leaves, 
155  ;  in  coitu,  155 

Megalurus  amhoiiiensis,  295 

Melaniiis  stiradevn,  172 

Melastomo,  it.s  fertilisation,  229;  o:i 
the  Kabii,  228 

Mdettia,  237 

Menado,  call  at,  48G 

Mernps pliilippiiiux,  4  ;  sumatranm,  247 

Metroxylon  jihin^,  393 

Meyer,  Dr.  A.  B.,  on  birds  from  Timor- 
laut,  355 

Microhiernx  fringillarius,  56 

Miers,  J.,  'Mr.,  oncrustiicea  from  Timor- 
laut.  382 

Miglijptes  tristis,  56  ;  grammtnithorax, 
5  > 

^Migration  of8nipc,34;  teal, 34;  weaver- 
bird,  34 


532 


INDEX. 


Mimicry  amonj;;  Lepidoptera,  133,  \1?>  ; 

in  birds,  adcMioaal  example  of,  338  ; 

in  a  spider,  (i:! 
Missiouiiries,  Catholic,  480 
Mitrosacme  sp.,  452 
Mixture  of  races  in  Timor-laut,  311 
Moens',  Dr.,  oxpaviments  on  ciachom, 

109 
Months,  names  of  the,  in  Timor,  489 
Muara-Dna,  trade  of  the  t  )wu  of,  178  ; 

geolosical  strata  near,  179 
Muara-Inini,  tjwn  o'',  its  importance, 

191 
Miiava-Mengkulem,  Sfjourn  ft,  2r0 
Muara-ltupit,  town  of,  239  ;  its  im].or- 

tance,  •/39,  240 
Miiller,  Fritz,  on  fertilisation  of  Melas- 

toma,  229 
Miiller's,    II ,  observations  on  Samhu- 

cus,  22G 
Munia  imllida,  422 
Muntok,  cull  at,  2t;0 
Murr.iv's,  jMr.  J.,  theorv  of  coral  reefs, 

3G,  37,  40 
Murcenoids,  23 
Munscenda  frondoia,  422 
Musical  performance  in  Burn,  3^0 
Mydaus,    badfcer-htaded,    distribution 

of,  in  Java,  115 
Mi/dansmelice}}?,   114;  distribution   of, 

115 
Mijiagra  rjaleaUt,  2^4 
Mi/ophoneus  melanura,  172;  dicrorli/jn- 

chus,  172 
Mijristicivora  hicolor,  295 ;    r.iclnnui\t, 

393 
Mijrmecodia  tuherofa,  70  :  sp.,  295 
Mijzomda   annahdlx,   338;    vulnerata, 

422 ;  wakoloens-'if,  40j 

Napalditjin,  vdlnge  of,  ?51 

Natives  of  Amboina,  chaiacter  of,  292 

Native  mimes  for  plants,  54,  55 

Nectaries,  floral,  220  ;  long,  of  Hahena- 
ria,  29G 

Negiito  race,  Kubus  not  of  the,  244 

Negritoes  in  Timor,  4G7 

Nene  FoijaiKj,  or  stem-forefather,  re- 
verence of,"  in  Passumah,  198  ;  in 
Ta'idjong-Xing  224 ;  oath  over  his 
grave-sto:ie,  2^4 

New  Guinen,  land  in  Blacluer  Inlet 
in,  30) 

Ntropsiltamis  euleles,  421 

Neosalica  forhesi.  277 

Nepenthes  phyllamphora,  IS 

Nicholson,  Mr.  F.,  Papens  in  Ibis  ot) 
Sumatran  birds,  56.  2GS 

Nubility,  the,  of  ttie  Larapongers,  115, 
148 

Nocturnal  habits  of  Apis  dorsata,  478 


Nutmegs,   the    gathering    of,   287 ;    a 

delightful  article  of  trade,  '28G 
Nutmeg,  gardens  of,  in  Banda,  28G 
Nijcliorms  amicta,  129 
Nijdicorax  caledonicas,  33 
Nyniphalidee,  new,  from  (Sumatra,  274 

Oaks  on  Rupit  river,  237 ;   on   Rawas 

river,  252 
Oaths,  of  Kisam  people,  182 ;   among 

the  Passuinahers,  193 ;  in  Burn,  how 

taken,  395  ;  taken  over  a  stone,  198  ; 

in  a  circle  on  the  ground,  199  ;  by 

drinking  water,  395 
Observation,   powers   of,  nmong   Sun- 

danese,  54 
Ot'i/poda,  habits  of,  2G 
Odour  emitted  by  Eusemia  helanjeri, 

173 
Coiidang-oondang     (or     laws    of    the 

Maria),  142 
Ogan  valley,  calcareous  hills  in,  185  ; 

carvings,  18G 
Ogan  river,  183,  184 
Ophrys  apijera,  fertilisation  of,  85,  95 
Ophthalmis    lincea,   mimicry   of,    173 ; 

decipiens.  mimicry  of,  173 
Orchid  feitilifcation,  82-97 
Orders  nmong  the  l.ampongers,  145 
Oreodoxa  oleracen.  10 
Orescius  guuldi,  172 
Oriolus  decipiens,  337  ;  huruensis,  393  ; 

maculatus,  5G 
Ornaujents  of  Passumahers,  195  ;  of  the 

Lampongers,    147;    in    Tiniordau*, 

313;  of  the  Timorese,  4G2 
Ornithoptera  brnol;eana,  227 ;  priamus, 

291 ;  remus,  291 ;  amj^hri/sus,  139 
Ornithoptera  at   Pas^,    29i  ;    feed   on 

Cerhera  flowers,  291 
Ornithoscatoides   decipiens,  new  genus 

and  species  of  spider,  G3, 119, 12U,  21G 
Orlhoptera  of  Keeling  Islands,  31 
Ostcological   characters  of    Kubus  of 

Sumatra,  243,  244,  2GI 
Osirx:i,  fossil,  in  Java,  G3 

Padang-UIak-Tandjong,  village  of,  225 

Padjar-bulan,  carvings  and  coat  of  arms 
in  village  of,  180 

Paganism  in  the  upland  plateaus  ( f 
Sumatra,  191 ;  in  Passumah,  198 

FaLTornis  longicauda,  247 

Palembmg,  arrival  at,  257;  construc- 
tion of  the  town,  257, 160 ;  population, 
259  ;  trade,  259  ;  rivers  o'",  178 

Fandanus  csramicus,  403 ;  heliocopus, 
255 

Pandans  on  the  Kaba,  232 

Pangolin,  habits  of,  115 

Pangium-lrees,  load  of  fruit  on  the,  238 


INDEX. 


53^ 


PaniBthia  simulans,  mimicry  by,  173 
rancfliat,   or   title    in   tlic  Lampougs, 

144: 

Panthous  cocalus,  277  ;   talus.  Til 

Pantjalan,  or  iia;ive  boats,  how  made, 
255 

Pupil  ion  id  fc,,  new,  from  Sumatra!,  27-t 

Papilio  forbesi,  177,  275  ;  alboliiieatus, 
new  bpecics,  275 ;  itam-pufi,  new 
specie's,  177,  27G;  saturnm,  27G; 
diaphantus,  215 ;  aherrcuis,  303 ; 
lUijsses,  295 

Papuans  in  Timor,  4G5 

Paraffin  matelios,  wide  u«c  of,  152 

Parus  timorciisis,  450 

Paso,  stay  at,  280;  its  Eajab,  20.0; 
superstitiuna  >  t,  200 

Paspulum,  species  of  grass,  4'28 

Passumah  Lainls,  appearance  of,  from  a 
distance,  102;  gorges  in,  102;  de- 
scent of  tliu  inhabitants,  104;  thea- 
trical ijcrformances  in,  104  ;  account 
of  the  creation  in  ilie,  104 

Pas^UDialiers,  dress  of,  105  ;  ornaments 
of,  105 ;  marriage  among,  106 ;  re- 
ligion of,  r.'S;  outlis  of,  108;  their 
descent,  104;  mental  and  jiliy-^icd 
cliaracterittics  of,  105;  death  customs 
of,  100 

Passumah-Tj'lu-Manna,  20 1 

Pan,  on  the  Uenipo,  103;  stay  :.t,  255 

Peak  of  Laibobar,  332 

Pecten,  fossil,  in  Java,  G3 

Pemjihis  acidula,  aid  of,  in  reclaiming 
land  from  sea,  2G,  28 

Pengandonan,  Nillnge  of,  185 

Pcnanggnngan,  stay  dt,  130 

I'eiigelengan,  village  in  Java,  103 

Pentacitrotus  tmnsrersa,  172 

I'epadon,  tlie  order  of  tiie,  145 

Pepper  Irauo  in  S.  Sumatra,  127; 
at  Gumnig  Trnng,  135 

PeriophthahintK.  201 

Peristylis  riridis,  fertilisation  of,  85 

Pdrxa  o>-/wreo,  occuircLce  cf,  in  Java, 
78;  in  Timor,  78 

Pcrsecutioa  of  PapUionidic  by  Pieridx, 
134 

Petrasovitex  in  Burn,  514 

Petroleum,  wide  use  of,  152 

Plutjus  blumci,  fertilisation  cf,  85-8', 
04 

Phal,i:iiopsis  (imabiliif.  10;  grandiflora,  10 

Pliallic  W(irsliii)  at  Kosalii,  101 

PhaeioH  cnndiduit,  33 

Pheidole  juvana,  ant  inhabit'nu:  Mijr- 
nierodla  ami  Ifi/dnophi/tinn,  70,  81 

I'hilemnn,  301 ;  limorldoeusig.  421,  337  ; 
violurrenifiit,  303  ;  timonw-is.,  421 

Piiosi)horesccnce  in  the  Amboina  Bay, 
20U 


Fliraffmcdxcin  arundinis,  178 

Pieridm  fertilising  Sambucui,  227;  os 
persecutors  of  PapiUonidie,  134 

Pig-roasting  in  Burn,  308 

Pisonia  inermis  on  Keeling  Islands, 
30 ;  its  seeds  carried  by  birds,  30, 
33  ;  seeds  fatal  to  birds,  30 

Pitcher-plants,  78 

Pitta  venusta,  22G 

Plants  from  'J  imor  laut,  b'st  of,  354 

Plants  of  Keeling  Island,  list  of,  42,  43 

Plantago  major  in  Java,  112 

Platijlophus  coronatus,  G7  ;  rjalericula- 
tus,  67 

PJoceus  liypoxantlius  migrating  to  Keel- 
ing Island,  34  ;  rest  of,  5G 

Pnoepyga  j^utfilla,  207 

Poisoned  water,  outburst  of,  in  Keeling 
Island,  10.  40 

Poiionous  fishes,  24 

PoIiR'tHs  liiimilis,  "^52 

Pollen,  ditferent  kinds  of,  from  different 
forms  of  antlu  r  in  Melastaina,  220 

Polyandry  doubtful  in  Pomaiorhinus 
moiitanus,  72 

Polynesian  laccs.  dispersion  of,  302 

Polynesiaiis  in  Timor,  4GG 

Pohjplectron  chalcnrurtis,  172 

Pomatorhinua  monturnis,  l.abits  of,  72 

Pomali  sign  in  Burn,  400 

Porphyria  melanojterus,  394 

Portuguese  words  in  Jlalay,  G 

Portuguese  language,  permanence  of, 
417 

Prisoners  at  Laclo,  480 

Protective  resemblance  in  Ptilopus 
ductus,  450 

Protoparce  orientalis,  423 

Pteropus,  long  iourneys  of,  32 

Ptilopus  cinctus,  450;  jHolectivo  re- 
semblance of.  450;  diadematus  2S7  ; 
porphyreus,  72  ;  n-all<tcii,  325 

Pumice-stone-tuft'  jdafeau  near  Kenali, 
IGS  ;  pumice  at  Timor-laut,  332 

Python  preys  on  Cuscns,  292 

Quelch,]\Ir.  J.  J.,  40G;  list  of  corals  from 

Keeling  Islands  by,  44-47 
Quetta,  SS.  retuin  to  Europe  in,  488 
Kaces  in  Tiinoi',  418;  rubhaiied  lace, 

4G4;  Malays.  4 GG 
Eaftles,   Sir   Slamlonl,  his   memory  in 

Snmatia,  201;  liaily,  IMcmoir  of  Sir 

Stamford  by.  2G8 
Pajjhxia  sp.,  10 
Uajjksia  ariioldi,  154 
Jlufflt'siiicviv,  215  ;  new  f<prcics  of,  20G 
Haft  JDurneys,  on  rivorl.intang.  215  ;  on 

Musi  river,  217  ;  on  IJupit  river,  237 
Pi;iins,    eflect    of    be;ivy,    in   Keeling 

Islands,  40;  denuding  tffect  of,  115 


534 


INDEX. 


Eain,  effects  of,  IT-t 

iZa/.- ;Y,  (.oiiihined  house  and  boat,  1S3; 
my,  down  Kawas  and  Musi,  252- 
2G0;  how  managed,  253;  pleasures 
of  a  journey  in,  255-257 ;  dangers, 
255  ;  price  of  a,  258 

Ballus  philippensis,  31 

Kanau  district,  chiefs  of,  17G  ;  lake  of, 
176;  temperatures  of  lake  of,  177; 
Eanau  tobacco,  170 

Eats,  iJaguo  of,  at  Fatunaba,  484 

Eawas  region,  dances  of,  217;  goM- 
mines  in,  249;  people  of,  24G ;  dig- 
nified bearing  of  chiefs  of,  24(j 

Eawas  river,  bird  life  along,  252;  flora 
on  banks,  251 

Eed-haired  race  in  Timor,  461 

Eegal  succession  in  Timor,  458 

Eeinwardt's  ])lants  from  Timor,  497 

Eeligion  of  tiie  Passumuhers,  198 

Remigia  virhia,  moth  at  Fatunaba, 
423 

Remusatia  vivipara,  470 

Eeptiles  and  batrachians  from  Tlmor- 
laut,  list  of,  368 

Ehiiioceros  in  Sumatra.  158,  105 

Rhinocichla  mitrata,  22G 

Rhinococcijz  curciiontris,  5G;  javensis, 
56 

Rhipidura  rvfiventris,  459 

Rhododendron  imiyniflorum,  208 ;  re- 
tusiim,  in  craters,  114 ;  tuhijlorum, 
159  ;  malayannm,  159 

Rhyndiota,  detcriptioiiof,  from  Sumatra, 
277 

Rhijtidocerus  sidirufficollis,  252 

Eiang  Peak,  its  geological  structure, 
185 

Eice  cultivation  in  I'antam,  52 ;  at  Kot- 
ta-djawa,  Sumatra,  131,  132;  utar 
Kenali,  1(J8 

Eice,  loss  on,  from  drought,  iti  Java,  75 

Eice-field  charm,  170 

Eidley,  Mr.  S.  O.,  list  of  corals  from 
Keeling  Islands  hy,  44-47,  406 

Eidley,  Mr.  H.  N.,  description  of  new 
plants  by,  513 

Kiedel,  Eesident  of  Amboina,  his  con- 
"  duct  towards  us,  288 ;  his  action  ne- 
cessitates our  leaving  the  Moluccas, 
408;  tliis  repudiated  by  the  Dutch 
Government,  408 ;  his  plants  from 
Timor,  -idS 

Eiedle''s  plants  from  Timor,  497 

Eitabel,  camp  in  village  of,  302 

Eoads  in  Timor.  428,  432,  433,  467 

Eoss,  Sir  J.  C,  15 

Eoss,  Mr.  G.  C,  13 

Eoss,  J.  C,  founder  of  Keeling  Colony, 
15 

Itiihus  Uneatus,  114,  208 


Eupit  river,  vegetation  along,  237,  238  ; 
its  bird  life,  238 ;  scenery  along,  238  ; 
gold  in,  239 

Saddle  and  bridle  of  Timorese,  449 

Saluki.  visit  to,  4G1 

Salvadori,  Count,  on  riati/lophis  rjdleri- 

culatus,  67  ;  on  Burn  Lirds,  409 
Samhucus  javanica,  226,  227  ;    visited 

by  Eumenes,  227 ;  visited  by  Pieridie, 

227;  racemosa,  226 
Saparua,  visit  to,  299 
Sauo,   curious   rocks  at,  433 ;    house- 
cluster  at,  435 
Sautier's  plants  from  Timor,  497 
Saore  herdundun,  Passumah   marriage 

service,  19G 
Sawah  mountains,  161 
Scarcity  of  flowers  and  fruits  in  trees  i.i 

Java,  75 
Scars  burned   on  limbs   by  natives   of 

Timor-laut    to    ward   of    small-pox, 

313 
Scarus,  21 ;  poisonous  species  of,  24 
Schiznstachium  durio,  471 
Scheffer,  Dr.,  51.  103 
Sciuropterus,  137 
Sclater,  Dr.  P.  L.,  on  Philemon,338  ;  on 

birds  of  Timor-laut,  355 
Sculptured  figures  in  Passumah  Lands, 

201,  203;  their  origin,  202 
Sea,  depth  of,  at  mouth  of  Palcmbang 

river,  260 
Seals,  native  ideas  about,  205 
Seeds  buried  by  ciab?-,  26 
Sekaicang,  coroila-<  cf,  233 
Seleucides  idbti,  28G 
Self-fertilisation  in  orchids,  85-67 
Semangka  river,  journey  along  tiic,  162  ; 

falls  of,  167 
Semper,  Piof.,  on  coral  reefs,  36,  37,  40 
Sero,  or  fish  maiso,  289 
Servants,  difficulties  with,  at  Fatunaba, 

423 
Sesalw,  order  of  the,  146 
Setaria,  species  of  grass,  428 
Slieep  on  Keeling  Island,  31 
Siamanga  sijndactyla,  70,  129 :  young 

tame,  156  ;  its  interesting  habits  and 

death,  160 
Sibia  similUma,  22G 
SibisMC,  Peak  of,  12 
Silicified  trees  in  Java,  G3 
Simotes  forhesi,  337 
Sipliia  hanjumas  in  Java,  115 
Siabung,  bridge  ovt  r  the  river,  178 
Slaves  in  Timor-laut,  312 
Smith,  Christoplier,  his   plants   from 

Timor,  497 
Snakes  in  Timor-laut,  337 
Snipe  in  Keeling  Islands.  34 


INDEX. 


535 


Sohale,  IMount  (in  Timor;,  ascent  of, 
474 ;  flora  of,  475 :  summit  sacred, 
475 ;  view  from,  47 G 

Solorese  in  Cupany^  (Timor),  285 ;  tlieir 
dress,  2S5  ;  artistic  taste  among,  285 

Songs,  harvest,  in  Timor,  454 

Boporific  powder,  recipe  for  native,  245 

Sowing  of  the  seed  in  Timor,  ceremonies 
attending,  455 

Spanoglie's  plants  fiora  Timor.  497 

Spnlhocflottis  plkata,  fertilisation  of, 
89-91 

Spectre  of  the  Brocken,  213 

Spider,  alluringly  coloured,  G3 

Spider-eater,  233 

Springs,  hot,  at  Eaba,  225 

Stanley's,  Captain  Owen,  account  of 
Timor-laut,  301,  302 

Sterculia  jtxtida,  '334 

Stone  implements  in  Java,  G7 

Stone,  oath  over  a,  199 

Sturnopastor  iaJla,  liahits  of,  55 ;  melan- 
opterus,  habits  of,  55 

Stijvax  suhpaniruhttum,  207 

Sugar,  loss  on,  from  drought,  in  Java,  75 

Sulir.u,  village  of,  175 

Suku,  or  division  of  village  in  Sumatra, 
143 

Sula  piscatn'x,  habits  of,  32 

Sumatra,  disposition  of  hill  and  plain 
in,  126 

Sunda  Straits,  4 ;  sunsets  in  the,  12 

Sundanese  people,  52  ;  language,  53;  as 
naturalists,  54 

Superstitions,  at  Paso.  290 ;  about  Dem- 
pn,  213;  in  Burn,  405  ;  in  Timor-laut, 
as  to  hair,  309;  as  to  partins  with  rela- 
tive's cranium,  30!* ;  in  Java  about 
wild  dogs;  lUi;  about  krisses,  117; 
about  trees,  137 

Surabaya,  call  at,  488 

Suringar,  Prof,  8 

Snrulangun,  slay  at,  240  ;  meet  Kubus 
at,  240 

Sni/a  nlbigulfiris,  209 

Simngi  or  c\i\  spirits,  belief  in,  in  Timor, 
429,  438 ;  in  Burn,  405 

Synanthemitm  in  rice  fields,  170 

Tahat  (fresh-water  ponds  near  Mount 

Dempo),  214 
TaJit'du  (ilance)  in  Timor,  451 
Titcln/petes  minor,  habits  of,  32 
Titijiti's  patnhi,  440 
Tandjong-Xing,  village  of,  221 ;  great 

forest  near,  222 ;  lose  a  man  by  a  t'gcr 

near,  222 
Tangalunga  in  Timor-laut.  312 
Tatooing  in  Timor-laut.  313 
Tea  from  Aunphil!,',  210 
Teal  in  Keeling  Islands,  34 


Tebbing-Tinggi,  town  of,  221 

Tehula,  Mount,  430 

Telok-betong,  town  in  Sumatra,  125, 
161 

Tenaris  buruensis,  description  of,  411, 
398 

Tengamus,  ascent  of  Mount,  139,  157; 
flora  of,  158 

Teiijrah-tengali,  call  at.  292 

Tenimber  Islands  (.«^e  Timor-laut) 

Terias  laratensi-^,  325 

Terpsijphone  ajlini.% 

Terraced  hills  at  Kosala,  97 

Terratas,  stay  at,  157 

Ternstroemacen',  228 

Tetranthera  citntta,  78,  228 

Teysmannia  altifrons,  10 

Tevsmann,  Mr.,  9 ;  his  plants  from 
Timor,  498 

Thieves'  calendars,  244 

Theatrical  performance,  embryo.  194 

Theories  as  to  coial  reefs,  36 

Thomas,  Mr.  O.,  on  a  new  bat  from  Java, 
71,  118 

Tliomisus  declpiens,  63 

TiuereatingDurian  fruit,,  240;  attacked 
by  a,  128  ;  lose  a  man  by  a,  222  ;  tiger- 
trap,  223 ;  persistence  of,  after  quarry, 
223 ;  wiiiness  of,  223 ;  superstitions 
about,  224;  hatred  of,  224 
Tilu,  Mount,  in  Java,  lOS 

Timorese  tiie,  their  dyes,  463 ;  great 
drunkards, 437,  4'J4;  vendettaamong, 
464 ;  character  of  the,  419,  424,  429 ; 
food  of  the,  438;  burial  and  death 
rites  among,  437 ;  arms  of,  463 ; 
dress  of,  462 ;  ornaments  of,  -162  ; 
carvings  by,  464 ;  tiieir  sacred  in- 
stitution of  the  Lull,  442 
Timor,  East,  territorial  divisions  of, 
425;  dialects  of,  425  ;  description  of 
country,  -132,  433 ;  dialects  spoken 
in,  490  ;  law  in,  how  exercised,  473  ; 
death  and  burial  rites  in,  435 
Timor-laut,  start  for,  298 ;  first  im- 
pressions of,  303;  its  flatness,  332; 
want  of  hills  and  streams,  332  ;  de- 
rivation of  name,  331  ;  dangers  in, 
304,  327;  hardships  in,  338;  pleasured 
in,  339 ;  isolation  when  Iti,  339 ;  its 
fauna,  336 ;  reptiles  in,  3:]7 ;  floral 
features  of,  303,  334 ;  natural  pro- 
ducts of,  306  ;  friendliness  of  natives, 
305;  maiic'iiK  quart  (Vlteure  in,  330 

Timor-laut  islande.'s,  artistic  ability  of, 
317  :  appreciate  bright  colours,  3l7  ; 
dwellings  of,  318  ;  grout  drunkards, 
328  ;  burial  rites  and  ))laces  of,  322  ; 
stature,  colour  of  skin,  310;  facial  and 
cranial  characters  of,  310,  311,  310  ; 
moral  characters  of,  313,  314,  319, 


536 


INDEX. 


320  ;  food  of,  314  ;  religion  oF,  314  ; 

marriage    laws    and  rites    of,  315 ; 

departure  from,  339 
TiohmomoD,  pasi  through  villa^je  of, 

140 
Titles  in  the  Lampongs,  143 
Tjipanas  hot  springs,  67 
'J  ra^iijcomus  ochrocephalus,  36 
Tradiir/,  manner  of,  of  the  Kubus,  235 
"  Trassi,"  native  condiment,  60 
Trepsichrois    mulciher    mimicked     by 

Amesia,  139  ;  van-deventeri,  new  sp., 

274 
Trcub's,  Dr.,  observations  on  Myrme- 

coclia  and  Hydnophytnm,  82 
Truntalis  eiiropxa,  78 
'I'ringokles,  177 
Tropical  vegetation,  128 
Tropic  bird,  33 

Tro'jons,  colour  in  feathers  of,  172 
Turrets,  earth-worm,  227 
Turskain,  R  tjah's  of,  flora  near.  443  ; 

arrival  at,  441  ;  the  Rijah  of,  447 
Twecddale,  Lord,  on  birds  of  Sumatr.i, 

2G8 

Uma-hdi  (in  Timor),  442;  account  of, 

443-445,  447 
XIpas  tree,  notes  en,  112 
Urostifjma  microcarpum,  77 ;  consocia- 

tum,  77 
Uro'tigma  tree,  giant  in  Lampongs,  153 
Urtica  ovalifolia,  nsod  to  cure  fatigue, 

397 

Vacciniaeese  near  Dilly,  4Z2 
Vaccinium  floribundum,  in  craters,  114  ; 

forhesi,  a  new  fpecies,  209,  210,  278 
Vania  insignis,  471 
Van  (ler  Wei'le,  ^lajor,  408 
Van  Djvtnter,  Jusf.cc   and  Madame, 

408 
Vanity   of  men    of  Timer  laut  about 

their  hiir,  307 
Versification  in  Kisam.,  181 
View  going  up  the  Dempo,  210 
Vinca  rosea,  284 

Viola  alata,  in  Java,  112  ;  patrinii,  430 
Vocabulary  of  Timor  words,  4^*1 
Vocabulary    of    Ke'    and    Timor-laut 

Avords,  383 
Volcanic  flora  in  Java,  78,  114 

Wai-apu  river,  393 


"Wai,  Bay  of,  great  beauty  of  submarine 
gardens  in,  293 

Waitidal,  visit  to,  327 

Wakolo  lake,  superstitions  about,  405 ; 
storms  on,  401! ;  uo  fish  in,  406  ;  bird.-) 
of,  406 ;  herbarium  from,  lost,  407 ; 
natives  about. 401, 402;  their  physical 
characters,  402;  ornaments  of,  402  ; 
dre.ss  of,  403 

Wallace  Cliannel,  in  Timor-laut,  331 

AValiace,  IMr.  A.  R.,  collected  birds  in 
Sumatra.  2GS  ;  plants  from  Timoi-, 
498  ;  on  birds  of  Burn,  409 ;  on  great 
mammalia  of  Sumatra,  165 

"War  ceremonies  in  Timor,  445-44G, 
450,  4ol 

Wasilale',  camp  at,  393  ;  dwellings  at, 
399 

Waterhouse,  Mr.  Char'.e.j  O.,  on  Cole- 
optera  from  Timor-Jait,  370 ;  de- 
scriptions of  iiiS3cts  by,  276 

"Water-lilies  in  the  ]ice-tields,  170 

Waterproofing  in  Burn,  403 

Water  roads  in  Sumatran  forest,  254 

Wau-wau  Gibbon,  70 

Wave,  earthquake,  Keeling  Islands  in, 
19 

Wayang,  Mount,  in  Java,  108 

White  ants,  73,  74 

Wliite-eyes  (.Zosterops),  210,  212,  394  ; 
in  Banda,  287 

Whortleberry,  "Long-age,"  209,  flO 

Wife-clans  in  Timor,  457 

V/i!d  dogs  in  Java,  116;  native 
accounts  of  habits  o*",  and  super- 
stitions about,  116 

Wiles',  James,  plants  from  Timor,  497 

Wollastonia  (ixperrima,  447 

Woman,  position  of  the,  in  Passumah, 
196;  in  T.nior-laut,  315;  in  Burn, 
400;  in  Tim.  r.  463 

A\  oodcarvingin  Kenal',  168  ;  iuKisam, 
180 ;  amon'_'  Timorese,  464 ;  in  Ti- 
mor-laut, 317 

Words,  Buiuts?,  411 

Xeropteryx  simplicior,  177 
Xylocopa,  72 

ZdliuR  cyanopterus.  mimicry  in,  72.  73 
Zippel's  plants  from  Timor,  497 
Zizypliiis  jvjidia,  480 
Zosterops,  cidoris,    287;    chhrata,   210, 
212  ;  fertilising  Vaccinium,  210 


VALUABLE  WORKS 

OF 

EXPLORATION  AND  ADVENTURE. 


Wallace's  Malay  Archipelago. 

The  Malay  Archipelago :  the  Land  of  the  Oraug-Utan  and  the  Bird  of 
Paradise.  A  Xarrative  of  Travel,  1854-63.  With  Studies  of  Man  and 
Nature.  By  Alfred  Kussel  Wallace.  With  Maps  and  numerous 
Illustrations.     New  Edition.     Crown  8vo,  Cloth,  $3  50. 

Wallace's  Island  Life. 

Island  Life ;  or,  The  Phenomena  of  Insular  Faunas  and  Floras,  with 
their  Causes.  Including  an  entire  Revision  of  the  Problem  of  Geological 
Climates.  Bj'  Alfred  Russel  Wallace.  With  Illustrations  and  Maps. 
Svo,  Cloth,  $4  00. 

Wallace's  Geographical  Distribution  of  Animals. 

The  Geographical  Distribution  of  Animals.  With  a  Study  of  the  Rela- 
tions of  Living  and  Extinct  Faunas,  as  elucidating  the  Past  Changes  of 
the  Earth's  Surface.  By  Alfred  Russel  Wallace.  With  Colored 
Maps  and  numerous  Illustrations  bj'  Zwecker.    3  vols. ,  Svo,  Cloth,  $10  00. 


Stanley' 


's  Congo,  and  the  Fonnding  of  its  Free  State. 

A  Story  of  Work  aud  Exploration.  By  H.  M.  Stanley.  Dedicated  by 
Special  Permission  to  II. M.  the  King  of  the  Belgians.  In  3  vols.,  Svo, 
Cloth,  with  over  One  Hundred  full-page  and  smaller  Illustrations,  two 
large  Maps,  and  several  smaller  ones.     {Nearly  Ready.) 

Stanley's  Throngh  the  Dark  Continent. 

Through  the  Dark  Continent;  or,  The  Sources  of  the  Nile,  Around  the 
Great  Lakes  of  Equatorial  Africa,  and  Down  the  Livingstone  River  to 
the  Atlantic  Ocean.  With  149  Illustrations  and  10  Maps.  By  Henry 
M.  Stanley.  3  vols.,  Svo,  Cloth,  $10  00;  Sheep,  $13  00;  Half  Morocco, 
$15  00. 

Stanley's  Cooniassic  and  Magdala. 

Coomassie  and  Magdala:  a  Story  of  Two  British  Campaigns  in  Africa. 
By  Henry  ^l.  Stanley.    With  3iaps  and  Illustrations.   Svo,  Cloth,  $3  50. 

Cameron's  Across  Africa. 

Across  Africa.  By  Verney  Lovett  Cameron,  C.B.,  D.C.L.,  Com- 
raander  Royal  Navy,  Gold  Medalist  Royal  Geographical  Society,  «&c. 
With  a  Map  and  nunaerous  Illustrations.     Svo,  Cloth,  $5  00. 


2  Valuable  Works  of  Exploration  and  Adventure. 

Livingstone's  Last  Journals. 

The  Last  Journals  of  David  Livingstone,  in  Central  Africa,  from  1865  to 
his  Death.  Continued  by  a  Narrative  of  his  Last  Moments  and  Suffer- 
ings, obtained  from  his  Faithful  Servants  Chuma  and  Susi.  By  Horace 
Wallek,  F.R.G.S.,  Rector  of  Twywell,  Northampton.  With  Maps  and 
Illustrations.  8vo,  Cloth,  §5  00;  Sheep,  $6  00.  Cheap  Popular  Edition, 
8vo,  Cloth,  with  Map  and  Illustrations,  $2  50. 

Livingstone's  Expedition  to  the  Zambesi. 

Narrative  of  an  Expedition  to  the  Zambesi  and  its  Tributaries;  and  of 
the  Discovery  of  the  Lakes  Shirwa  and  Nyassa.  1858-1864.  By  David 
and  Charles  Livingstone.  With  Map  and  Illustrations.  8vo,  Cloth, 
$5  00;  Sheep,  $5  50. 

Long's  Central  Africa. 

Central  Africa:  Naked  Truths  of  Naked  People.  An  Account  of  Expe- 
ditions to  the  Lake  Victoria  Nyanza  and  the  Makraka  Niam-Niam,  West 
of  the  Bahr-El-Abiad  (White  Nile).  By  Col.  C.  Chaille  Long,  of  the 
Egyptian  Staff.  Illustrated  from  Col.  Long's  own  Sketches.  With  Map 
8vo,  Cloth,  §2  50. 

AshangO'Land. 

A  Journey  to  Ashango-Land,  and  Further  Penetration  into  Equatorial 
Africa.  By  Paul  B.  Du  Chaillu.  Illustrated.  8vo,  Cloth,  §5  00; 
Sheep,  $5  50;  Half  Calf,  $7  25. 

The  Land  of  the  Midnight  Sun. 

The  Land  of  the  Midnight  Sun.  Summer  and  Winter  Journeys  through 
Sweden,  Norway,  Lapland,  and  Northern  Finland.  By  Paul  B.  Du 
Chaillu.  With  Map  and  235  Illustrations.  In  Two  Volumes.  8vo, 
Cloth,  $7  50;  Half  Calf,  $12  00. 

Thomson's  Voyage  of  the  "Challenger." 

The  Voj^age  of  the  "Challenger."  The  Atlantic:  An  Account  of  the 
General  Results  of  the  Voyage  during  the  Year  1873  and  the  Early  Part 
of  the  Year  1876.  By  Sir  C.  Wyville  Thomson,  F.R.S.  With  a  Por- 
trait of  the  Author,  many  Colored  Maps,  Temperature  Charts,  and  Illus- 
trations.    2  vols.,  8vo,  Cloth,  $12  00. 

Spry's  Cruise  of  the  "Challenger." 

The  Cruise  of  Her  Majesty's  Ship  "Challenger."  Voyages  over  many 
Seas,  Scenes  in  many  Lands.  By  W.  J.  J.  Spry,  R.N.  With  Maps  and 
Illustrations.     Crown  8vo,  Cloth,  $2  00. 


Valuable  Works  of  Exploration  and  Adventure.  3 

Scliweinfii nil's  Heart  of  Africa. 

The  Heart  of  Africa  ;  or,  Three  Years'  Travels  and  Adventures  in  the 
Unexplored  Regions  of  the  Centre  of  Africa.  From  1868  to  1871.  By 
Dr.  Georg  Sciiweixfurth.  Translated  by  Ellen  E.  Frewer.  With 
an  Introduction  by  Westwood  Eeade.  Illustrated  by  about  130  Wood- 
cuts from  Drawings  made  by  the  Author,  and  with  Two  Maps.  2  vols., 
Svo,  Cloth,  $8  00. 

Spekc's  Africa. 

Journal  of  the  Discovery  of  the  Source  of  the  Nile.  By  John  Hanning 
Speke,  Captain  II.  M.  Indian  Armj',  Fellow  and  Gold  Medalist  of  the 
Royal  Geographical  Society,  Hon.  Corresponding  Member  and  Gold  Med- 
alist of  the  French  Geogi'aphical  Society,  ifec.  With  Maps  and  Portraits 
and  numerous  Illustrations,  chiefly  from  Drawings  by  Captain  Grant. 
Svo,  Cloth,  $4  00  ;  Sheep,  $4  50. 

Baker's  Ismaiiia. 

Ismailia  :  a  Narrative  of  the  Expedition  to  Central  Africa  for  the  Sup- 
pression of  the  Slave-Trade,  organized  by  Ismail,  Khedive  of  Egypt. 
By  Sir  Samuel  White  Baker^ Pasha,  M.A.,  F.R.S..  F.R.G.S.,  Major- 
General  of  the  Ottoman  Empire,  late  Governor-General  of  the  Equatorial 
Nile  Basin,  &c. ,  &c.  With  Maps,  Portraits,  and  upward  of  50  full-page 
Illustrations  by  Zwecker  and  Diirand.  Svo,  Cloth,  ^5  00  ;  Half  Calf, 
$7  25. 

Reade's  Savage  Africa. 

Savage  Africa :  being  the  Narrative  of  a  Tour  in  Eciuatorial,  South-west- 
ern, and  North-western  Africa  ;  with  Notes  on  the  Habits  of  the  Gorilla  ; 
on  the  Existence  of  Unicorns  and  Tailed  Men  ;  on  the  Slave-Trade  ;  on 
the  Origin,  Character,  and  Capabilities  of  the  Negro,  and  on  the  Future 
Civilization  of  Western  Africa.  By  W.  Winwood  Reade.  With  Illus- 
trations and  a  :\Iap.     Svo,  Cloth,  $4  00 ;  Sheep,  |4  50  ;  Half  Calf,  $6  25. 

Prime's  Boal-Life  in  Egypt  and  Nubia. 

Boat-Life  in  Egypt  and  Nubia.  By  William  C.  Prime.  Illustrated. 
12mo,  Cloth,  §2  00. 

Vambrcy's  Central  Asia. 

Travels  in  Central  Asia :  being  the  Account  of  a  Journey  from  Teheran 
across  the  Turkoman  Desert,  on  the  Eastern  Shore  of  the  Caspian,  to 
Khiva,  Bokhara,  and  Samarcand,  performed  in  the  year  18G3.  By  Au- 
MiNius  Vambekv,  Member  of  the  Hungarian  Academy  of  Pesth,  by  whom 
he  was  sent  on  this  Scientific  Mission.  V.'ith  Map  and  Woodcuts.  Svo, 
Cloth,  $4  50;  Half  Calf,  $G  75. 


4  Valuable  Works  of  Exploration  and  Adventure. 

Thomson's  Malacca,  Iiido'Cliinii,  and  China. 

The  Straits  of  Malacca,  ludo-Cliina,  and  China  ;  or,  Ten  Years'  Travels, 
Adventures,  and  Residence  Abroad.  By  J.  Thomson.  With  over  60 
Illustrations.     8vo,  Cloth,  $4  00. 

Thomson's  Sonthern  Palestine  and  Jernsalcm. 

The  Land  and  the  Book  :  Southern  Palestine  and  Jerusalem.  By  Will- 
iam M.  Thomson,  D.D.,  Forty-five  Years  a  Missionary  in  Syria  and  Pal- 
estine. 140  Illustrations  and  Maps.  S(iuare  8vo,  Cloth,  $G  00  ;  Sheep, 
$7  00  ;  Half  Morocco,  $3  50  ;  Full  Morocco,  Gilt  Edges,  $10  00. 

Thomson's  Central  Palestine  and  Phoenicia. 

The  Land  and  the  Book  :  Central  Palestine  and  Phoenicia.    By  William 
.    M.  Thomson,  D.D.     130  Illustrations  and  Maps.      Square  8vo,  Cloth, 
$6  00  ;  Sheep,  $7  00  ;  Half  Morocco,  $8  50  ;  Full  Morocco,  Gilt  Edges, 
$10  00. 

Thomson's  East  of  the  Jordan. 

The  Land  and  the  Book  :  East  of  the  Jordan.  By  William  M.  Thom- 
son, D.D.     Illustrations  and  Maps.     Square  8vo.     {Nearly  Ready.) 

Schliemann's  Ilios. 

Ilios,  the  City  and  Country  of  the  Trojans.  The  Results  of  Researches 
and  Discoveries  on  the  Site  of  Troy  and  throughout  the  Troad  in  the 
years  1871-'72-73-'78-'79;  including  an  Autobiography  of  the  Author. 
By  Dr.  Henry  Schliemann,  F.S.A.,  F.R.I.  British  Architects  ;  Author 
of  "Troy  and  its  Remains,"  "Mycenaj,"  &c.  With  a  Preface,  Appen- 
dices, and  Notes  by  Professors  Rudolf  Virchow,  Max  Miiller,  A.  H.  Sayce, 
J.  P.  Mahaff3^  H.  Brugsch-Bej^  P.  Ascherson,  M.  A.  Postolaccas,  M.  E. 
Burnouf,  Mr.  F.  Calvert,  and  Mr.  A.  J.  Duffield.  With  Maps,  Plans,  and 
about  1800  Illustrations.  Imperial  8vo,  Cloth,  $12  00  ;  Half  Morocco, 
$15  00. 

Schliemann's  Troja. 

Troja.  Results  of  the  Latest  Researches  and  Discoveries  on  the  Site  of 
Homer's  Troy,  and  in  the  Heroic  Tumuli  and  other  Sites,  made  in  the 
year  1882,  and  a  Narrative  of  a  Journey  in  the  Troad  in  1881.  By  Dr. 
Henry  Schliemann,  Author  of  "Ilios," »&;c.  Preface  by  Professor  A.  H. 
Sayce.  With  150  Woodcuts  and  4  Maps  and  Plans,  pp.  xl.,434.  8vo, 
Cloth,  $7  50;  Half  Morocco,  $10  00. 


Published  by  HAEPER  &  BROTHERS,  New  Yoek. 

t3"  IlARrEU  &  BuoTiiEKS  wUl  send  any  of  the  abnve  worJcs  h;/  mail,  pontajc  prepaid,  to  any 
part  of  the  United  States  or  Canada,  on  receipt  cf  the  price. 


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